Resident Evil: Phoenix Island
by PhoenixFire DragonLight
Summary: This is my take on what might have happened after the Fourth Movie. Alice/Claire Femslash. Mature for Language and Adult situations. Mostly Romance and Fluff. Reveiws are welcome. No Flames Please
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Resident evil or any of the characters. **

**A/N: So I know I said it would be a while before I finished the story, but my muse and the little plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone. So here it is. I have updated the first five chapters to reflect necessary changes. The story is finished and is currently in the capable hands of my fantastic Beta. So When I receive a chapter back I will upload it. **

**Also please keep in mind that I have changed a few details to what I want. For example; Alice did not kill Angela. She simply left to protect the group from her unknown powers. I'm going with the theory that Angela ran out of Anti-Virus L and Jill was captured later by Umbrella. Another thing to note is that in my story Chris and Claire have a very…antagonistic relationship. I really have no opinion of Chris, but this is what works for my story. **

**On a side note while there really is a group of deserted Islands named Phoenix Islands, mine is completely fabricated. **

**Reviews are appreciated and welcomed, but please NO FLAMES! **

**Warning! Rated M for mature themes and Sexual situation.**

**Resident Evil: Phoenix Island**

**Chapter 1**

ALICE!" The screams echoed through the air and Alice could hear the fear in the redhead's voice. She dispatched the Umbrella soldier she had been fighting and then turned to locate the source of the leader's terror. She watched in horror as a tall blond brought the butt of her gun into contact with her opponent's temple.

"Claire!" Alice screamed as she watched the other woman drop to the deck. She saw the blood flowing from her wound as the younger woman fell. All other commotion vanished as she stared in horror at the still body of her friend, her leader, the woman she loved and the woman she had sworn to protect

Even without her powers she slowly made her way from devastated Japan across the United States, both of which (were) crawling with undead in search of Claire's convoy. She had promised the redhead that she would come back for her, that she would come back to her. The trip took longer than it normally would if she still had her powers, but she made it. She knew that they weren't stripped away like Wesker had said. She could feel them just out of her reach, dormant but try as she might she had not been about to reach them.

But now her powers were building up. She could feel whatever block was on them breaking down. The pain at seeing her lover lying there, bleeding, and not knowing if she was dead or alive was causing them to swell. The knowledge that she had failed, that she had once again failed was a pain she had never known before. She had failed Angie and Jill, Carlos and LJ, and she had failed Claire, K-mart, and the others by sending them to Alaska. But to know that she had failed again when they were so close to finally finding some peace and quiet was too much. To know that she had failed Claire again without protecting her and allowing her to be hurt caused all the anger, hurt, pain, and misery she had been suffering over the years to burst forth and release her dormant abilities.

As the powers pushed out of her in one giant shockwave she threw her head back and roared her misery to the sky. Every Umbrella soldier on the deck was tossed to their feet and every Osprey in the air was rocked, as the survivors watched on in awe. The ex-project turned her eyes towards the Blonde responsible for her pain as she leapt to the upper deck. She could see the fear in her eyes; she could smell it coming from her enemy. "Jill Valentine." She said without any emotion whatsoever. The only thing keeping her from killing her old friend on the spot was that she knew Claire would not approve and she suspected that Jill was not operating under her own volition.

"RETREAT!" the blonde commander ordered when she saw the power the brunette in front of her was exhibiting. She knew Project Alice had been classified a failure and that Wesker had stripped her of her abilities, rendering her human again, but that's not what she was seeing. The amount of energy pouring off the woman in front of her was unlike anything she had ever seen. She knew that there was no way they would win this fight and her only option was to take her chances and report back to Umbrella for further instructions.  
>As she turned to retreat to the waiting Osprey she realized that she was literally stuck in place. She felt as if her legs and feet had turned to stone and she struggled to move. She was vaguely aware of her men in the same predicament, but was only worried about her own troubles. When she finally looked back at the ex- project she shivered at the cold smirk she was receiving and the power shinning in the hazel eyes before her. Pulling herself up and gathering what little courage she had she commanded, "Project Alice, you are ordered to deactivate yourself and return with us for termination."<p>

The woman's smirk just increased. "Project Alice died over a year and a half ago in the Nevada desert." Alice tilted her head to the side and looked down at the still redhead that was now 10 feet away from her. Studying her lover she was relieved that while slow and weak, she could detect signs of life. Turning back to Jill she said, "Project Alice died the day she met that woman and her convoy. I have been simply Alice since then."

"You are the property of Umbrella." Jill attempted to argue while she tried to control her fear, "You are theirs to dispose of as they see fit."

"I will give you a choice Jill." Alice's voice was still steady and calm. "You and your people can leave and return to Umbrella. You can inform them that the Arcadia now belongs to us and if they ever come after these people, or me again I will destroy them all. Or I can simply destroy you all now, where you stand."

Jill studied the woman before her. She knew from the records that this woman would do as she promised, but she also knew that if she returned there was a good chance she herself would be terminated for failure to complete her mission. She looked at her men and all of them stood with their weapons trained on the ex-project waiting for her instructions, while all of the survivors had gathered together in a huge group waiting to see what would happen. Turning back to the brunette in front of her she decided she would take her chances here, "You will report back to Umbrella one way or the other, Project Alice." She looked at the soldier serving as her second in command, "Kill her." She ordered and immediately her men all fired at their target.

The power that had been flowing from Alice surged forth and immediately a shield sprung up around the survivors protecting them from any stray bullets. Another wall of energy surrounded her, Jill, and Claire. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that her lover was waking up, but it never fully registered as she emotionlessly watched as the bullets were redirected back to their owners. One by one the Umbrella soldiers were ripped to shreds by their own weapons. She didn't even wait for the last man to fall before she reached out with her telekinetic powers and forced the Ospreys still in the air to lose control and crash into each other before plummeting into the waters below. In a matter of minutes she had taken out all of the Umbrella soldiers, leaving only the blonde before her.

Alice could feel herself fading into unconsciousness and fought to stay awake. The amount of energy summoned by her abilities plus the amount she had expended since then was too much for her body. Before she allowed herself to fade into the welcoming black she reached out with one final telekinetic push and caused the controlling device attached to Jill's chest to explode outward, throwing the blonde backwards with the force, but effectively freeing her from Umbrella's control. With stumbling movements she tried to reach the now moving redhead. She needed to hold her one last time before she gave into the darkness that she could feel coming, but she was unable to make it.

"Claire…" she called weakly as she dropped to her knees a few feet from the younger woman.

As the darkness took her she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her and a voice whisper to her, "Alice…baby stay with me." Then everything went dark.

Claire returned to consciousness when Jill gave the order for her men to fire on the Brunette. The pain in her head was intense and the sounds of rapid gun fire around her had not helped. It took her several minutes to gain enough control over her own body to even move her head. She saw Alice standing no more than ten feet from her and the blonde woman she had been fighting before a few feet from Alice. As she watched the beautiful brunette in front of her and stared at her in awe at the amount of power she seemed to control, she was assaulted with wave after wave of forgotten memories. All of them centered on the woman before her. She was her friend and her lover.

In a matter of seconds she could remember the first time she had ever laid eyes on the other woman and how majestic she had looked beneath the flaming sky. She could remember the almost instant attraction that she felt for their newest member which was not only physical but mental and emotional as well. She could remember their one and only night together. She could recall with perfect clarity the night they had given into their emotions and their desires. She knew what it felt like to be skin to skin and lip to lip with the woman, and she remembered how in that moment of ecstasy she knew without a doubt that Alice was her destiny.

She could remember the desperation she had felt when they had talked of Alice's need to leave them and finish what she had started with Umbrella. The fear of losing the woman she had just found and had so quickly come to mean so much to her, and the understanding that what she needed to do was necessary. She had known in her heart that Alice would return to her one day and she had sworn that she would wait for her. There had been no declarations of love and no tearful farewells, but as she flew the few remaining survivors out in the helicopter she knew that she was deeply committed to Alice and that she would wait as long as necessary for her to return. She could not imagine the pain Alice must have gone through to keep her promise to return nor the despair that she must have felt to find that Claire could not remember her.

She was pulled from her own jumbled thoughts as she felt Alice's powers increase. She knew that her lover had told her that she was without her abilities and that Wesker claimed that he had stripped her of her abilities, but Alice had admitted to the redhead that she could feel them locked away just out of her reach. It would seem that she had somehow reached them and as she watched the Osprey above them crash into each other she could tell that they were stronger than ever. She could also see that her lover was fading fast. The amount of power she was using must be overwhelming her body.

She struggled to sit up as Alice destroyed the device controlling the blonde. She wondered briefly why she didn't just kill the blonde as she had done with the rest but as the blonde fell and Alice turned to stumble towards her she didn't care. "Claire…" She heard Alice call to her weekly before collapsing to her knees a few feet from her.

Struggling to her knees she forced herself to crawl to her lover and managed to grab her before she collapsed completely. Wrapping her arms around her she pulled the older woman close. Alice…" she called to the now fading woman."…baby stay with me." She implored her lover. She wouldn't lose the other woman again, not now that they were finally together again and she remembered what Alice meant to her. She wiped the blood trickling from her lover's nose as she kissed her gently on the forehead, "Stay with me Alice. I can't lose you again."

She looked up as she heard footsteps rushing towards her and saw that it was K-mart, Tom, and a few others she recognized from her convoy. She could see the others following as well but at a more sedate pace with Chris in the background. "Claire…" the teenage blonde called as she dropped to her knees next to them. "Are you two alright?"

"You remember us?" She asked in honest surprise. It had taken her days to even recall the first memory.

"Yeah." K-mart said reaching out towards the wound on Claire's head but not touching it. "I don't know how, but when the first surge of power came from Alice. It jolted my memory. Not all of them, but most. Now forget about that. Are you two alright?"

Claire looked up at the others from her convoy to see they had regained their memories as well. Tom simply smiled and nodded at her but that's all she needed. Reaching up she gently touched the wound on the side of her head, wincing slightly in pain. "We need to get her into a room and see if anyone around here has medical training." She ordered slipping into her role as leader. She saw Anne nod and slip away into the crowd gathering on the outside. "Tom, Lock her up." She said indicating the blonde still out cold not too far from them. "And place a guard on her room."

Tom nodded and headed off. "Help me with her, please." She said looking at Jim and Steve. The two approached and gently took Alice from her. With K-mart's helped Claire stood, "Thanks, K." She said quietly. "We need to find a room below. Post guards on the deck as a lookout until we can figure out what to do next." She ordered the crowd. "We need to make sure Umbrella doesn't come back." The group nodded and slowly some of them left to do as Claire ordered.

She started to lead the way slowly to the stairs aware that Anne was fallowing with another woman. She could only hope that the other woman was a doctor. "We should place a guard around her room as well." Chris' voice stopped her. She looked over at the other man who was her brother. She had her memories of him back as well and they were not that great.

"Excuse me?" she asked and anyone could tell there was a warning in her tone. She waved Steve and Jim ahead and was relieved to see Anne and the other woman follow them. "Why the hell would I do that?"

"She's dangerous Claire." Chris stated slowly as if talking to a small child. "Look at what she just did. She needs to be contained before she harms anyone else."

Claire could hear some mummers of agreement through the crowd and she didn't like it one bit, but before she could speak K-mart beat her too it. "She just saved your fucking life you ass." K-mart said with anger. "She's saved some of us more than once and you will not treat her like dome prisoner."

"It's alright, K." Claire said softly before turning towards Chris. "She's right. Alice just saved all us and she is the only one capable of keeping us safe from Umbrella if they return. She will not be treated as a prisoner."

"It's her they want, Claire." Chris sounded exasperated. "When they return we can trade her for our safety."

Before he could even blink he found himself face to face with an angry redhead and a barrel of a gun pointed at his face. "Don't you even think about it" Claire growled. "If you ever threaten her again, brother or not I will end you. She's been there for us, for me, more than anyone else. She's done everything, given up everything to try and keep us safe…to keep me safe and now it's my turn. You will not touch her, you will not try and harm her and anyone who does not like it is welcome to leave. Just remember, that woman is the only one capable of keeping you safe. You leave this ship and you fend for yourself."

With that she turned and allowed K-mart to help her to the rooms below not noticing everyone on the ship nodding in agreement to the points she had made. They might be scared of the brunette but they knew the redhead was right; she was the only one capable of protecting them. And with that they pledged to follow the two women and allow them to lead them to safety.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 2**

Alice awoke to the sound of raised voices. Well she realized they weren't actually raised, but in fact the people in question were outside the door and having a whispered conversation. It was only her enhanced hearing that allowed her to hear them so clearly. She could sense the presence of someone else in the room, and by the feel and scent of it the person was K-mart. She lay there with her eyes closed, checking herself for injuries and concentrating on the argument.

"I've been on my own for fifteen years now Chris." It was easy for her to pick out her lover's voice and she felt relief sweep through her at the knowledge that she was apparently alright. "Mom and Dad died and you left. I was 16 years old and my big brother couldn't be bothered to look after me. You would have rather been out protecting strangers instead of protecting your sister."

"I was doing my job, Claire." Came Chris' voice and Alice automatically felt her stomach drop and her anger start to rise. She still wasn't sure whether or not she trusted the man.

"Bull shit." Claire spat and Alice jerked up and swung her legs over the bed ready to go to her lover's aide if need be. The movement caused K-mart to jerk awake and Alice saw her open her mouth to speak and she quickly shook her head and tilted her head towards the door, indicating to the teen to stay silent. K-mart nodded but couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. Alice smiled at her and opened her arms allowing the young blonde jump into her arms for a hug. She was one of the only two people ever allowed to touch her. "You didn't want the responsibility. When I needed you to protect me you weren't there. When the world went to hell you weren't there and now when I don't need your protection you want to try and act like a big brother."

Alice could just picture the angry glare the redhead was shooting her brother. "I have fended for myself for the last six years. I avoided the Undead, gathered survivors and kept them safe. All without your help Chris, so what in this goddamned fucked up world makes you think I need your help now. I can protect myself and even if I couldn't Alice would never let anything happen to me, K-mart, or the others."

"She abandoned you in Nevada, Claire." Chris spat and his words caused Alice to flinch and she could feel K-mart tighten her hold in response to her actions. She fought off the emotions. "She sent you to Alaska alone where your people were captured and you were wiped of your memories. She went to play the hero and you suffered for it."

"She did what she had to." Claire automatically defended. "She sent us where we should have been safe and went to take care of the threat against us and she succeeded. And then when she was stripped of her powers and was as defenseless as any other human she still managed to make her way to Alaska to search for us. To search for me. She saved us all, your ass included, Chris."

"Yes, her powers which have conveniently returned." His voice was dripping with disdain. "She's dangerous, Claire. She's a danger to the ship, she's a danger to the people you claim to protect, and she's a danger to you."

Even K-mart heard the slap that echoed through the halls. "Listen up, Chris, and listen well." Her voice was full or anger, "until the **MAJORITY** of the people on this ship vote otherwise I am in charge and I am telling you now, Alice is going nowhere. When the time comes that the people tell me they want someone else to lead them and Alice to leave, then she will leave." Alice could feel her heart sink at the words, but it didn't last after at Claire's next sentence. "And I will go with her, but until that happens I'm not discussing this again. Now get back to work."

There was a moment of silence and then they heard heavy footsteps heading away from the door. After a moment the door opened softly and Claire slipped quietly into the room, only to pull up short at the sight of Alice sitting up on the bed with the K-mart wrapped tightly around her. A smile lit up her face as she hurried across the room. "Oh thank god you're awake."

K-mart immediately stood up. Squeezing Alice's shoulder she smiled, "I'm so glad that you are alright. I'll go get you something to eat. I'm sure after using all that energy you have to be famished." She paused and then added, "Welcome home, Alice."

"That's, K." Alice said smiling at her. "It's good to have a home."

As soon as the teenager left the room she turned to Claire who just stood there looking at her. "Claire?" she prompted softly and the next thing she knew she had a crying redhead in her arms. Unsure what to say or do, Alice just held her close and gently rocked her. She had no idea which what Claire she was dealing with, the one who didn't remember her or her lover.

Eventually Claire gained enough control to pull back and look at the woman who held her so tenderly. "God, Baby. You scared the shit out of me. Please. Please don't do that again."

Alice heard the words but all she could focus on was that Claire had called her, 'baby'. She desperately searched the redhead's face, looking for a sign that she had indeed remembered. "You… you remembered?" She asked hopefully.

"Mmm…I could never forget you for long, baby." Claire smiled softly at her. "I'm sorry it took me so long, but I'm yours again if you want me."

"I never stopped wanting you. Claire and I never will." Alice smiled at her and reached up to cup her face. Claire couldn't help but think once again that no one would believe it if she told them how much of a romantic Alice could be. "All I could think about from the moment you took off in the Helicopter until the moment I found you in Alaska was getting back to you. I'm so sorry I left you Claire. I'm sorry I failed you…"

"You didn't fail me, Alice." Claire cut her off. She could hear the self-loathing in her lover's voice and she wouldn't let her continue with it. "We did what was best for us at the time. As hard as it was, it was the best course of action and I never thought otherwise. As much as I missed you, and God did I miss you, it needed to be done."

"No…" Alice shook her head, "I should have stayed. I know we weren't together long and have been apart way too long, but even then I knew how much you meant to me." She looked down unable to meet Claire's eyes. "Even if I couldn't put words too it. I knew then that I loved you. I shouldn't have left you and the others. I should have stayed and protected you."

"You love me?" Was the only thing Claire commented on. When Alice nodded shyly her smile grew. "I love you too, baby. Don't you know that? You mean everything to me. Even when I couldn't remember you I knew that you and I had something deeper than friendship." She smiled at the older woman, "Now enough of this. I've waited eighteen months to feel your lips on mine again and if it's all the same to you I really don't want to wait much longer."

Alice's shy smile turned into an all-out smirk. Leaning in she whispered, "I love you." Right before she captured Claire's lips in a deep kiss. Both women moaned in relief and arousal as their lips parted and their tongues came together. Alice moved her hands to Claire's waist and pulled the redhead into her lap, wanting her as close as possible. There was so much emotion in that  
>single kiss that both women thought that they would surely faint.<p>

When the need for air became absolutely necessary Claire pulled back. She buried her face in the side of Alice's neck and took comfort from her lover's warm skin. "Mmm…I love you too, baby." She mumbled and sighed in contentment when Alice's arms tightened around her. Neither woman had any desire to move from their spot wrapped in each other's arms. They were able to stay in their comfortable position for several long minutes before they were interrupted by K-mart coming into the room carrying a tray with three plates. She smiled at the two women and set the tray on a table across the room.

"I thought I would bring us all something. I know that Claire hasn't eaten and I'm hungry." The young blonde explained with a smile on her face.

Alice shot her lover a look and the younger woman just shrugged, "I couldn't leave you. I wanted to be here when you woke up. If it hadn't been for Chris I would have been too."

Alice could hear the anger still under the surface at the mention of her brother, but decided that now wasn't the time to question her on it. Focusing on something else she asked, "How long have I been out?"

"Eighteen hours." Claire said softly as she allowed Alice to help her up and lead her to the table. "Using all that energy took it out of you."

"So what's happening now?" Alice asked standing by the table and stretching her stiff muscles. As Claire answered she took her time looking around the room. It appeared to be the captain's quarters or one of the VIP state rooms she was sure the Umbrella bigwigs used. The room was large and spacious with several large windows. There was a queen sized bed on one wall along with a couch and chairs and a table against the other wall. She could see two doors, one she was sure led to the bathroom and the other she guessed led to a closet. It had to be the nicest place she had been in a while.

"I've got teams searching the ship to determine what supplies we have and what we can use. Claire explained as she started eating. Now that Alice was awake her appetite had returned. "We have to decide what we want to do soon and make plans accordingly, but I didn't want to do anything until you were awake and we had a chance to talk to Jill to see what she could tell us about Umbrella's plans."

"She's alright then?" Alice asked unsure how she really felt about the woman. They had been friends of sorts years ago, but she had left to protect the group. When she asked Carlos and LJ what happened to the Jill they weren't able to tell her. All they remembered was waking one morning after she had left and the other woman was gone. Still she knew what it was like to have someone else controlling you actions so she could sympathize with the blonde.

"She's fine." Claire assured her, "she's under guard for the moment and doesn't remember a whole lot, but Sara, the new doctor, thinks she'll make a full recovery."

Alice nodded in understanding. "And what about me?" She asked after a moment. "Do the others want me under guard?" She didn't want to hurt her lover but needed to know where she stood with the other people on the ship.

"A few." Claire admitted, "Mostly they are spurred on by my brother. But most of the people are alright with you being here. They might be a little leery but they are alight with you being here."

"I've talked to several of them." K-mart offered. "They support you and Claire as the leaders. They know you can protect them, but they are scared of your powers."

"That's to be expected, Kid." Alice sighed. "I'll admit that they scare me some too."

"How did they return, baby?" Claire asked unable to hold her curiosity in any longer. She knew how her lover felt about the fact that she was no longer fully human, but she needed to know. "I thought they were blocked?" She reached over and gently took Alice's hand. She never wanted her to think that Claire was scared of who she was or what she could do.

"I'm not sure." Alice admitted. "I told you weeks ago that I could feel them and that they were still there, but I couldn't reach them. I'm not sure what Wesker actually injected me with. It might have been the anti-virus and it just didn't work, or it could have been something else. My bet is that it was something else. I…feel different. Different from how I did with just the T-virus in me. I…it's hard to explain."

"But how did you access them again?" Claire prodded.

"The feeling had been getting stronger ever since we left Alaska." Alice said softly looking down in shame. She hated not being completely human. "I could feel them clearer than before, but when I watched you go down. When I saw her hit you and I thought you were dead…" she trailed off and shook her head, unable to finish.

"Look at me, Alice." Claire ordered softly. When Alice wouldn't lift her head she said again, "Please look at me, Alice." She had to wait a full minute before Alice raised her head, but when she finally did Claire could see the pain in her eyes. "I love you, Alice." She said gently. "I loved you before you lost your abilities and even if I didn't remember you I loved you without your abilities. I loved you then and I love you now. No matter what happened. No matter what they did to you, I still love you. That's not going to change."

"Those who know you don't care." K-mart added in from where she sat. She hated to see the women she considered sisters so upset. "We aren't scared of what you can do, Alice. We are thankful for it, because without you we wouldn't be here now."

Alice couldn't speak, but she simply nodded. The truth was she was scared of what she might be changing into. She had seen what Wesker became and she did not want to end up the same. As if sensing her distress Claire ran a gentle hand through her hair down to cup her jaw. Gently turning it towards her she leaned in a kissed the brunette softly. "We will deal with any changes as they come. I promise baby, I'm not letting you to go through this alone."

Alice nodded again. She felt exposed showing so much fear and uncertainty. If it had been anyone but Claire and K-mart she wouldn't have. They were the only two that she felt comfortable letting her guard down around. Taking a deep breath she changed the subject. "I need to go to the White room and clean it up."

"You need to rest." Claire said shaking her head. "Someone else can do it."

"No, baby. They can't." Alice said softly. "I'm the only one immune to the T-Virus and I don't want to risk anyone else getting infected." When Claire opened her mouth to argue she added, "I'm fine, Claire. I just needed to sleep. The virus has healed any injuries I had, I promise."

"Alright." Claire nodded, "But I'm going with you."

When Alice opened her mouth to argue this time Claire cut her off, "I'll stay back, out of the way. But I am going. I need to go. I just need…" She trailed off but Alice knew what she meant. She needed to be close to Alice. She needed to have her within her sights. Alice could understand that, because she felt the exact same way.

"Alright." She nodded. "Let's get that taken care of and then I think we need to go see Jill and maybe call a meeting. We can't stay here long, Umbrella might return and if they do I would feel better being far away from here."

Claire nodded in agreement. "Let's get this done. I want to make it an early night." K-mart groaned at the suggestiveness in her voice but Alice smirked.

"Oh don't worry." Alice assured her, "That's my plan as well." Pulling her up Alice leaned in and planted a passionate kiss on her lips before pulling back and whispering, "Hold that thought for later, baby because I am going to show you just how much I have missed you."

She looked over at K-mart who was just shaking her head. "Why don't you go round up the people we need for the meeting. Tell them we will meet in three hours on the bridge. "Alice strapped on her guns as she looked at the teen.  
>"Yes, Ma'am." K-mart threw a mock solute before turning and heading out the door. Claire just laughed at her enthusiasm.<p>

"Come on, baby." Claire said capturing her lover's hand and giving it a squeeze before strapping her own gun on. "Let's get this shit done so we can get to the…getting reacquainted part."

Alice just smiled at the redhead as she followed her out of the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 3**

"What do you think we should do?" Claire asked into the silence surrounding the group. "Where should we go? Back to Alaska?"

She and Alice had left their room with the intentions of going straight to the White room and cleaning up the mess down there. Unfortunately it took them nearly an hour to reach that far. They were stopped every few feet by someone wanting to greet them, thank them, offer their support, or ask what they were going to do next. It pushed Claire's patience to the max and only with Alice's constant presence did she manage to keep from snapping at someone. She reassured all of them that they would be having a meeting that very night to discuss their options and then they would offer them to the group.

Once they finally reached the room Claire stood back against the wall waiting to see what Alice would do. She wanted to be close to the brunette but understood that she needed her out of the way for this one. Instead she stood back and watched, using her time to study her lover. As she studied her, really studied her for the first time since she had gotten her memories back she noticed subtle changes.

Alice was taller than before. Not by a great margin but there were definitely a few inches difference. She also was carrying more muscle on her frame. The definition was clear and Claire almost caught herself drooling over how sexy it made her look. There was also a new light shining in her eyes that took Claire's breath away.  
>She watched silently as Alice used fire to burn the remains of dogs and puddles of blood still on the floor to cleanse virus from them before using her powers to lift some sea water and rinse all the ashes away. Once that was done they headed back towards the main decks and stopped to see their prisoner. Jill Valentine was asleep at the time so instead of waking her, they left instructions with the guards and made their way to the bridge where the meeting was to take place.<p>

Alice was surprised to see Luther among those gathered since she didn't know that he had made it out of the city. She rolled her eyes at K-Mart as he pulled her into a hug that lasted a little too long and then had to suppress a laugh when Claire growled softly at the man. She had surprised them all by moving closer to Claire when the ex-athlete released her and leaning against the counter she had pulled the redhead into her, back to front and tightened her hold on her.

Claire had sighed happily at the unexpected display of affection and leaned back into her lover, ignoring the snickers from K-mart and some of the others as well as the glares from Chris and Luther. She really did not care what this did to her reputation at this point, or who it upset. She had Alice back with her and right now that mattered more. They had set about discussing the condition of the ship and their supplies, which led them to their current topic.

"Too cold." Alice said softly. "The winters are too harsh and long. It's isolated but I'm afraid that the survivors won't be able to handle to climate. There's also a problem with growing food there and supplies. We can raid stores and warehouses but even that will only last so long. We need to come up with a long term solution."

"Like what?" Claire asked, "We can't stay on the ship. Even if we don't ever find more survivors we have over two thousand people on board. It will get too crowded."

"No, we can't stay on board, you are right about that." Alice agreed, "We could continue to use the ship to make runs if needed or search for survivors, but I think it's safer for the majority of the people to be settled on land."

"Then what do you suggest?" Chris asked with anger clear in his voice and Alice tightened her hold around the redhead to stop her from attacking her brother. She really needed to find out where the animosity between them came from, but figured that could wait for a time being. "Any place isolated enough to be free of the virus is going to be a place where people haven't settled, which means it's going to be damn cold. So again I say Alaska."

Alice shook her head and sighed, "The Northern regions aren't the only uninhabited places on the planet. There are several desert regions and mountain regions that have also never been settled, but I was thinking something a little bit more out of the way."

Claire turned her head and looked over her shoulder, "This really isn't the time for your vague answers, baby." She chastised softly. "What are you talking about?"

"There are hundreds of deserted Islands around the world that we could settle on." Alice offered. "They would be free of infection and isolated from the chance of the undead finding it."

"Yes, but they are deserted for a reason." Chris argued back. "If people didn't think it was a good idea to settle there before what makes you think it is for us."

"Well one, the world is not quite the same as it was before." Alice pointed out calmly. She really wanted to knock the idiot for a loop, but figured she would leave that for Claire to do. Plus she figured this would infuriate him more. "Some wouldn't work for us. They are too small, no fresh water, disappear the ocean for a time, but there a few that I can think of that would work."

"And how would you know of these." The male Redfield challenged. "What would an ex-Umbrella project know of deserted Islands?"

It seemed that everyone was content to watch the two argue because no one moved to interject but both K-mart and Claire glared at the man. "Before I started work for Umbrella, I did have other plans with my life." She pointed out. "Plans that did not involve becoming one of their test subjects and having them fuck with my body, my mind, and my life." Claire pushed herself deeper into her lover's embrace, trying to offer her comfort.

"What do you mean?" She asked softly drawing Alice's attention to her.

"When I was in college I was an Archeology major." Alice admitted with a shrug. "One of our trips was to a deserted Island to examine it for remains of ancient civilizations."

"How the hell did you end up with Umbrella?" Steve asked the question they were all thinking. "That's quite a turn around."

"I joined the Military to pay for College." Alice admitted softly. "I was recruited to Umbrella from there. They paid better than a career in Archeology would."

Claire could sense her lover's unease so she brought them back on topic. "Tell us about the island."

"It was once owned by Canada." Alice told them, "And they called it Phoenix Island." She could see their confused looks so she shrugged, "Phoenixes were mythological birds that when they died would rise again from their ashes. They were immortal and had all kinds of amazing powers. This island, while never inhabited did have some very unusual animal life and one of the scientists studying it thought it was appropriate." She didn't mention how appropriate it was for their current situation on many different levels, but she knew at least some of them could see it.

"It's located about fifteen hundred miles north of Hawaii, so probably about three thousand miles from here. It is literally in the middle of nowhere and as of the last overhead survey done it had about two hundred square miles of land." She continued, "It has…well I wouldn't call them mountains, maybe small ones. But anyway there is a large valley surrounded on three sides."

"All three sides and the valley are full of trees that could be cleared for the timber to be used for houses and the soil is probably good for growing crops. There is only one access way to the ocean and that's through the beach. The rest of the land is too rocky to access so that will benefit us when it comes to security. Back in the 90's the temperatures ranged between the high 80's during the summer months and the mid 60's during the winter months."

"And how are you sure it's still uninhabited?" Claire asked.

"I'm not." Alice admitted, "But it was as of about 3 years before the virus hit so I can't imagine anyone had settled it since then. Not many people even know about it anyway."

"What would it take to settle there?" Tom asked highly interested. "What would it require?"

"We would have to come prepared and start from scratch." Alice advised. "There would be no houses to use, no farm land cleared, and no tools to use." She sighed slightly, "It would mean that we would have to hit a big city and raid several of the warehouses and stores. We would need tools not only for carpentry, but also farming. We will also need food stores, clothing supplies, housing supplies, and anything of use." She looked around the room at those gathered among her. "It would be a lot of hard work and it would take a long time to make it inhabitable, but it would be safe and isolated. A place where we could wait out this Apocalypse until the world is clean again."

"It would be safer to settle in Alaska." Chris pointed out, "And a lot of less work."  
>Claire glared at her brother, "It would be easier yes, but not safer. We would still have to raid a city for supplies, plus Alaska is still connected to the continent. It's a lot more possible that the infection has or could spread that far. Complete Isolation is our best bet."<p>

"What do you think, Claire?" Tom asked, "What would you choose?"

Claire closed her eyes and weighed the pros and cons of both decisions. She knew what she wanted but the question was what was best for the group as a whole. What would be the better life for them, maybe not the easiest, but the better, safer life? With a sigh she opened her eyes. "I would choose Phoenix Island." She ignored her brother's snort. "It might be the more difficult path, but it's the best bet we have at finding safety." She could see the other's nodding in agreement.

"So what do we do?" Someone repeated the earlier question.

"We give the group their choices and see what they want." Claire said. "This is a decision that is too big for one, or even a few of us to decide."

"What if they want different things?" K-mart asked. "What if some want to follow you while other's like Chris' idea?"

"Then we'll deal with it." Claire shrugged. She looked over her shoulder at her lover who simply smiled at her and nodded once. Turning back to the group she added, "I'm not going to force anyone to fallow us. If there is a group that wants to settle in Alaska, be it a few or the majority, so be it. I'll help them settle, but as far as Alice and I are concerned, we are headed for the Island."

"I'm with you guys." K-mart said at once. "I fancy a tropical Island to a freezing plain any day, and I can bet I won't be the only one."

"There's only one ship." Chris pointed out, grasping at straws. The truth was he knew they were right, but he refused to go along with anything that Alice suggested. He hated that his sister was choosing her over him and he wondered what he could do to change Claire's mind.

Claire just shrugged, "We'll figure something out. We've got to see what the group wants first." Looking at the others she got nods of agreement. Their next step would be to talk to the group as a whole. "Let's round them up in the dining hall." She suggested. "We can lay out their options and they can think about it over night."

"I'll stay and watch." Luther volunteered. "I already know what I'm going to do, so there's no point in me being there."

Alice thought about asking him what he chose, but she decided against it. She figured that she already knew. His character was one that didn't give up. He would choose the island in hopes that he would be able to win Alice away from Claire. Boy did he have other things coming.

"I'll stay with him." Tom offered. "I'm with you guys about going to the Island, so I don't need to be there either." Steve just nodded in agreement. "Go on." Tom said, "I'll make the announcement."

Claire smiled at him and nodded. Pulling away from Alice she took the brunette's hand and led her towards the doors and to the dining hall, with K-mart following. They heard Tom's announcement for everyone to gather in the dining hall at once, but when they entered it seemed that everyone was already there. They were apparently waiting for the leading group to enter.

Claire walked to the front the room where she stood with Alice by her side. Looking around she smiled at the gathered crowd. "We have a choice to make." She called loudly and immediately everyone fell silent to listen to her. "We can't stay on the ship. It's not big enough for all of us to inhabit for a long period of time. Now if anyone has any suggestions we are more than willing to listen, but as we see it we only have one choice: To settle on land. In order to do that with any degree of safety it will have to be somewhere remote and isolated. The two choices that we came up with were either to return to Alaska and settle there, or to head for an uninhabited island about three thousand miles from here. Either choice will require massive amounts of preparation and planning. Each choice has their benefits and drawbacks and each leads to a difficult life, but it's better than what we have been leading."

She could hear the mummers of agreements through the crowd. "If we end up with two groups that is fine; we will find a way to make sure each group is settled and outfitted appropriately so you can make the choice that is the best for you. Think it over tonight and we will meet again tomorrow morning for you to give us your decisions. From there we will move forward as necessary."

She waited to see if anyone had any questions and at first it didn't look like they would but eventually a voice spoke up from the back, "Where will you go?"

"Alice, K-mart and I, along with a few others who have already made their choice, will be heading for the Island." She answered the question honestly. "We will settle there and try to make a new life for ourselves away from the hell this world has become. But our choices might not be what is right for you. You need to do what you think is best for yourself."

Looking around she waited to see what else would be said, but when nothing was she nodded, "We'll meet back here for breakfast and decide then." Turning to Alice she asked, "Are you ready to go back to our quarters?"

Alice nodded at her and smiled, "been ready for ages, baby." Claire laughed as the brunette looked to K-mart. "You coming, K?"

K-mart shook her head, "I think I'm going to stay here and see what people are thinking. Talk to a few of them. I'm in the room right next to yours so I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright." Claire agreed "just don't stay up too late, K. We have a lot of work ahead of us." Once K-mart nodded in agreement Claire took Alice's hand and pulled her from the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 4**

Once inside, Alice was immediately pinned with her back against the door and a very amorous smaller body attached itself to her front.

Claire attached her lips to Alice's neck as her hands pulled at the shirt tucked into faded jeans. "Oh God, Claire." Alice managed to grab her shirt and pull it over her head as Claire's lips moved to the newly exposed skin of her stomach. Her bra joined her shirt somewhere on the floor as Claire not so lightly claimed an erect nipple with her teeth. "Ugh." The older woman groaned as she tangled her fingers in red hair and pulled Claire tightly into her. Her hips bucked forward trying to force more contact with the smaller body of her lover.

Claire chuckled as she released a very red and stimulated nipple; loving that she had this kind of effect on her lover. As amazing as it was when they made love for the first time, there was something so...thrilling about being with Alice this way. "Is there something you want, baby?" She ran her hands up Alice's thighs till she grasped around the firm ass and pressed her body into the ex-project's. "Is there?" She prompted when no answer was forthcoming.

Alice's head slammed back against the door. "Yes…you." She finally answered through her heavy breathing as Claire stepped between her spread legs and their hips ground together.

"I think that can be arranged." Claire dipped her head and suckled both nipples before she crouched at Alice's feet and removed her boots. She watched blue eyes darken with desire as she ran her hands slowly up the front of Alice's legs, stopping when she reach the waistband of her pants. Claire straightened her back, bringing her mouth level with her lover's crotch. "God, I've missed you baby." She maintained eye contact as she opened her mouth and raked her teeth along Alice's covered mound. "I bet you're dripping by now and you are soaking wet."

"Please." The older woman begged as she watched Claire lean towards her. "Baby...please." She almost collapsed when she felt teeth rake across her.

Claire smiled. "Oh, I definitely think that can be arranged." She stood and pulled her woman to the bed by her grip on her pants.

Alice was turned around which placed her back towards the side of the bed. She stood as still as her shaking legs would allow while Claire unlaced her pants. They were slowly pushed down around her knees before falling to the floor. She was pushed backwards until she was lying on her back across the bed. She propped up on her elbows to watch her lover as she leaned down and finished removing the clothing that was still bunched around her ankles.

Claire straightened and locked her blue eyes with hazel orbs as she slowly and enticingly started stripping for her lover. She almost lost her focus as a moan escaped Alice's mouth and her tongue hungrily moistened her lips. She regained her equilibrium as the last of her clothing was removed.

Alice sat up and reached for her lover that was teasing her so wonderfully. She arched an eyebrow in surprise as her target nimbly stepped back.

"Uh uh." Claire wiggled her finger. "You my love are going to let me have my way with you."

"But…" Alice started to protest.

"No buts. You are always so good to me and put my needs first. I just want to show you how much I love you, how much I've missed you these past months." Claire moved within touching distance and leaned down to place gentle kisses on Alice's eyelids, nose and mouth. "Now, baby." Her voice became authoritative. "You are going to follow orders."

"Yes, Ma'am." Alice responded to the wicked gleam in Claire's eyes. She knew at that moment she would do anything and everything that her seductress wanted, including sit up and beg. She knew she would enjoy this side of their love making as much as her lover did.

"Lay down." A devilish smile spread across her face. "And roll over." Claire swallowed hard and wondered if she could control her own desire as her eyes roamed up the tall, tanned, beautiful body when Alice leaned back. Alice turned to her stomach and she felt the moisture cascading down the inside of her thighs.

Alice rolled over and clutched the edge of the mattress in her hands as she waited. She was about ready to plead when she felt the bed shift as Claire straddled her thighs. She tried to spread her legs when she felt Claire's nipples lightly graze her butt and move upwards to leave a trail of goose-bumps, but her companion refused the action by clamping her legs tighter against her lover. "Please."

Claire chuckled. "Not yet, my love." She whispered in Alice's ear before she moved along the strong back, placing kisses down her spine. She paused and licked her lips as she hovered over the firm, smooth mounds of flesh that had captured her attention minutes ago. One long wet swipe of her tongue sent hips pressing into the bed then raising up begging for more.

Alice wanted desperately to open herself to her lover, but was denied. She clutched the mattress tighter, not caring if it ripped apart. Her hips bucked as she felt the warm wet muscle glide over her left cheek and she groaned her frustration into the blanket below her when there was no other immediate contact. "Please, Claire…"

"God it turns me on when you beg." She placed a delicate kiss on her lover's rear end just before sinking her teeth into the inviting flesh, hard enough to leave an indentation. The sound that passed from her companion's throat was a cross between a growl and a groan. Claire eased up her lover's body until her knees were beside Alice's hips. She spread her own folds and lowered herself until her center was pressing against her lover's ass. She threw her head back, moaning at the delicious contact touching her clit as she rhythmically undulated against the body beneath her.

Alice felt teeth sink into her skin and was about to pass out from unfulfilled need, and when she felt hot moist softness grind into her, she briefly wondered if lust had ever been a cause of death. She felt Claire's release throb through her own body and settle between her legs adding to her already agonizing need. "Ugh…Claire…please…need you." She whimpered.

Claire didn't wait for her body to calm before she spread Alice's legs and knelt between them. "You've been very patient, my love. Time for a small reward." She entered her lover with one finger, twisting it as she slowly pumped in and out of Alice's over heated body.

"M...More." Alice pleaded as she raised her hips in invitation.

Claire removed her well-lubricated finger and placed it at the smaller puckered opening and hesitated. "Is this it okay?" She asked her lover, realizing that even though they were fully committed to each other that this was still only their second time together. They were still trying new things and discovering what did and didn't please each other.

Alice pulled her knees under her, leaned forward on her forearms and presented herself to her lover. "Take me…now." She growled and felt the delicate finger enter her. "God…yes." Her entire being focused on that one finger easing in and out of her until she felt two other fingers fill her neglected opening. "Ugh, Claire…Please baby…" She had never before wanted to be taken in such a way. She had never been so aroused being in a submissive position.

Claire felt the tight opening give way as she gently pushed in with her index finger. With her free hand she entered Alice's soft warmth. She could feel her fingers slowly pumping past each other, one entering while the others pulled out, never leaving her lover completely empty. She felt Alice's muscles quiver and convulse and worked her fingers harder and faster.

Alice bucked forward as a soul shattering orgasm erupted throughout her body. Tremors continued to throb within her even after she collapsed onto the bed. She groaned and turned over to find Claire propped on her elbow, lying beside her. "God, I've missed you, Claire." Alice was still waiting for her heartbeat to slow down.

"I've missed you too, baby." Claire caressed a smooth cheek before tracing Alice's lips with her finger. "I love you Alice and I don't think I can handle being away from you again."

"Oh, Baby, I can promise you that won't happen again." Alice captured Claire's finger in her mouth, tasting her own essence. Alice knew that she would never be able to get enough of being with the woman next to her as the desire to possess and be possessed over and over again by her wonderful beautiful lover raged through her body and soul. "I love you, Claire." She declared and eased her companion back on the bed as she covered the smaller body with her own.

"I need you Alice." Came from between soft lips.

Alice hovered over her for a few seconds before leaning down to kiss her gently. When she pulled back, she looked deeply into Claire's eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. She usually had a hard time expressing herself, but with Claire it was just so easy. The words tumbled from her lips without thought. "I love you so much." She whispered in a husky voice. "From the first moment I looked into your eyes, you had my heart."

Alice felt small hands wrap around her neck and pull her down to waiting lips; her breath was stolen the second she felt a warm tongue pass between her lips. The kiss was slow and filled with a passion that Alice had never felt before. When they came apart, she looked into misty blue eyes and felt her heart contract. She just knew that she had made a mistake by telling Claire how she felt.

"You worry too much Alice." She whispered to her determined to silence her lover's fears. Claire placed soft kisses at the corners of her mouth, keeping within a distance of a shared breath.

"You fill my every waking moment and my dreams at night are of you. I'm in love with you, Alice Abernathy." She pulled Alice down and kissed her until both of them were close to passing out from lack of air. Alice could feel the wetness coating the insides of her thighs and a fullness envelope her nether lips, but this time it was her turn to tend to her lover's pleasure.

Laying her body on top of Claire, she kissed and nipped at the soft skin of Claire's neck. Feeling the roar of her blood throb against her lips, she licked the pulse point and then nipped and sucked the area until Claire was whimpering and clutching at her strong shoulders. She left a trail of kisses across her neck and down her chest to stop at the top of her right breast. Placing butterfly kisses around her hardened nipple, she felt her head being pulled down closer to where Claire wanted her. With the tip of her tongue, she circled her nipple and finally flicked the sensitive end with her tongue.

Rolling the other one between thumb and forefinger, she felt strong legs wrap around her hips and a wet center push into her stomach. Gasping at the feeling, she pressed her thighs together to try and control her body. Pulling Claire's nipple between her lips, she sucked and bit hard enough to hear a small gasp from her lover.

Moving her lips downward between her lover's breasts, she felt Claire's legs loosen from around her. Using her fingertips alone, she let them wander across sweat dampened flesh and felt goose bumps rise across Claire's skin. Sitting up on her calves, she ran her fingertips down from Claire's breasts to her stomach where she trailed them across damp curls. The entire time she held blue eyes with her own.  
>Moving backwards down the bed, she lay between muscular thighs, ran her fingers through damp curls, and then down to cover her fingers with her lovers wetness, longing for the sweet taste again. A deep moan rumbled from her chest when Claire opened her legs further and surrendered herself to her. Keeping eye contact, she ran her tongue across swollen lips slowly. With the flat of her tongue, she teased her lover until she was begging and pushing her head down. Using two fingers, she spread her folds and licked the inside of each lip of its juices.<p>

Leaving her center for last, she flicked her tongue against it and felt it open beneath her. Placing two fingers right at the edge, she slowly pushed them in to the first knuckle, took the hardened ridge between her lips, and flicked the very tip of it with her tongue.

Claire felt her body quiver from her lover's attentions. No one had ever taken her so slowly towards the top. Her entire body was on fire and in need of release. She could feel her insides tighten around Alice's fingers and then convulse when they were pushed all the way in and wiggled inside of her. She braced her heels into the bed and pushed her center against her lovers face, unintelligible words flowed from her lips as she came closer to the abyss.

Alice swirled her tongue around her lover's clit then sucked hard as she worked her fingers inside of her silk walls. When her fingers were clutched tightly, she tipped them upward, dragged her teeth across the redhead's clit, and felt her go over the edge. A loud grunt and then her name came screaming from her lover's lips. Before the pulses stopped, Alice pulled her fingers out, slipped her tongue inside of her lover, and took her back over the edge. When the tremors stopped, she licked the last of the juices from Claire and crawled up her body to lay with her head tucked against a sweat soaked neck. Wrapping her arms around the smaller body she whispered into her lover's ear how much she needed her.

They lay wrapped in each other's arms for long moments, each trying to catch their breaths and calm their trembling bodies. Alice was yet to feel her release again and she could feel the fullness between her legs and the slickness of her arousal coating the insides of her thighs. She groaned against her lover's neck when she moved her leg and felt the warmth of her lover's thigh brush her swollen clit. Smaller hands pushed on her shoulders so that she was lying on her back, Claire slid her body against Alice until she was lying on top of her and looking down into eyes that were almost black in color from arousal.

Pressing a kiss to each eyebrow, Claire moved her way down and across high cheekbones until; she came to slightly bruised lips. Her kiss was slow and seductive, raising both of their temperatures to boiling. After the kiss broke, she nipped and sucked at the moist skin of Alice's neck. Pulling on the softness until a whimpering sound came from Alice's chest.

"You have no idea what you do to me Alice." She straddled Alice's hips and rubbed her wetness against the soaking wet mound. It caused a shuddering to roll through the tall woman's body signaling her climax. "Oh god, Calire…" Alice sobbed as her hips thrust upward to meet Claire's wetness. Her back arched, and her large hands gripped Claire's hips and pulled her tighter as her climax over took her in rolling waves.

The feel of Alice's hot juices pouring from her contracting center sent Claire over the edge again. Their combined orgasms were like a volcano erupting, they thrust together melding their centers for mind-blowing shared climaxes. With the last of the tremors racing through their bodies, Claire collapsed on top of Alice's sweat covered body. Resting her face on a rapidly rising chest, she hung on for dear life as their bodies once again went into spasms from the press of their thighs against sensitive mounds. All that filled the room were the sounds of heavy breathing.

Long minutes later, with the cooling of heated skin, blue eyes opened to look upward into the slack face of her lover. Brushing Alice's wet bangs back from her forehead, Claire noticed that her breathing had returned to its normal rate but was deep as if she were sleeping. Softly kissing the area between her breasts still damp with sweat, she rolled off of her to lay by her side. Tracing a brow with one finger, she trailed a bead of sweat down the brunette's temple before leaning in and kissing her lover's lips gently. "Sleep well, baby." She whispered as she snuggled in close and smiled at the feel of strong arms wrapping around her. "I love you." She breathed as she too fell into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 5**

Alice woke at sunrise the next morning to find that she was alone in bed. Looking around she spotted Claire standing in front of the window, arms crossed around her body, watching the sun rise. She rose silently and went to stand behind her. Wrapping her arms around the redhead she felt Claire jump slightly in surprise and then she relaxed back into Alice's body. Alice leaned down to nuzzle her neck and softly asked. "Are you alright?"

Claire nodded but didn't speak right away. Instead she took a moment to enjoy the tenderness of her lover, some one that everyone else saw as harsh, hard assed, and unfeeling. Only those who got close enough, only those who Alice trusted enough got to see what really lay beneath. At this moment that consisted of two people, K-mart and herself. They were the only ones privileged to see the caring person beneath the exterior. She sighed out softly as she leaned deeper into the brunette's strong arms.

"I can't remember the last time I was able to just take time to enjoy a sunrise." She said softly as if not to break the spell, "It's hard to believe that something so beautiful can exist in the ugly mess that this world has become."

Alice just gave her a soft squeeze and they stood there watching until the sun had fully risen. With a sigh Claire finally turned away from the window and faced her lover. "As much as I would love to sequester ourselves in this room for a few days away from all of this, we do have a lot to get done."

Alice nodded, "I know. We have a long struggle ahead of us. A lot of work and a lot of planning, but I promise you Claire, that as soon as we have things up and running you and I will take a few days just for us."

"I know." Claire smiled at her, "But that's months away and right now we have things we need to work on." She leaned up and kissed Alice tenderly before pulling back and squaring her shoulders. "I want to have a quick shower and then I think we need to go see what Jill has to say."

"Can I join you?" Alice asked with a smirk.

"Can you behave?" Claire countered and then smiled when Alice frowned. "I'm sorry, baby." She reached up to stroke a cheek. "I would love to make love to you in the shower, but we really don't have time this morning."

Alice nodded and sighed, "I know and I'll behave."

"What's wrong?" Claire asked noticing the frown didn't go away.

Alice stared down into the blue eyes before her completely unsure how to express her feelings. "I never fit in anywhere growing up. In school I never had anyone I was close to. The smart group didn't want anything to do with me because I was too much of a jock and the jocks though I was too much of a nerd." She could see Claire's confusion at her train of thought but she continued. "When I got out and went to work for Umbrella I was too paranoid to get close to anyone. I was head of security for the hive and working from the inside to try and bring them down. I could never trust anyone enough. Then the world went to Hell and I was turned into a…freak."

"You're not a freak." Claire growled but Alice silenced her with a hand on her lips.

"I was experimented on." Alice continued. "Infected with the T-Virus, my genes and my mind manipulated. I wasn't human and for a long time I wasn't safe to be around. I thought I would never have a chance to be around people again. I thought I would never find the acceptance I had been looking for all my life but then I met you and suddenly I knew what it was I really wanted. More than acceptance, more than friendship I wanted to have someone in my life that I could love and who would love me."

She reached up and cupped Claire's face, "Leaving you was the hardest thing I ever had to do. Not knowing if I would be able to keep my promise and return, but knowing if anyone ever wanted a chance of living through this Apocalypse that Umbrella needed to be brought down. And then when I finally did find you…" She trailed off unable to bring up the pain she felt when Claire hadn't remembered her. Shaking her head she smiled down at the redhead, "I guess I was just wondering what it the world I did to deserve having you in my life."

Claire reached up and took Alice's face in both her hands. "I want you to listen to me, Alice." She wanted to make sure she had the brunette's complete attention. "Don't you ever call yourself a freak again, do you understand? You are in no way a freak. Yes you have abilities that most humans don't have, but that does not make you a freak. You are strong, supportive, compassionate, tender, brilliant, and so, _SO, _much more."

She could see tears building in Alice's hazel eyes. "I love you, Alice and to me that is all that matters." She smiled and wiped her lover's tears away. "I never, _NEVER_, believed in love at first sight, lust maybe, but not love. But seeing you and talking with you that first day…" She shook her head slightly. "By the time I went to sleep that night I knew…I just _knew_ you were it for me. It made no sense and it scared the hell out of me, but I knew. I knew that you were what I needed to survive this nightmare of a world we live in. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well."

She leaned in a kissed her gently before pulling back, "Giving in to you, and my desire and need to love you was the best decision I've ever made and if I have anything to say on the matter we will be able to do this for many years to come."

Alice could only smile and nod at her, but for Claire that was enough. She could see the emotion in the brunette's hazel eyes. "Come on, baby." She said taking her hand. "We really need to get this day started."

It took them no longer than thirty minutes to shower and get dressed for the day. Claire sighed as she pulled on one of the only two outfits she now owned. They would have to do something about the clothing situation soon. She just mentally added it to the growing list in her mind. They made their way down the hall towards the room that was being used to hold Jill Valentine. As they approached they could both hear raised voices. Claire couldn't quite make the words out but Alice could. "It's your brother." She told the red head. "It seems that he wants to talk to Jill."

Claire sighed and shook her head. "I'm going to shoot him before this is over with." She mumbled but Alice heard her.

"What's the problem between the two of you?" She asked gently.

"It's complicated." Claire answered. "I'll tell you later, but for now I think it's safe to say that our relationship isn't the best."

Alice just snorted in amusement but didn't comment as they rounded the corner. "What is going on here?" Claire demanded.

"I want to talk to Jill, but these idiots won't let me through." Chris said turning to his sister.

"That would be because they were ordered not to let anyone in until Alice and I talked with her first." Claire said calmly.

"What gives you the right to make such a decision?" Chris demanded. "Who put you in charge?"

"I did." She shrugged, "And you can either start acting like an adult or get out of my face, Chris."

She started to move past him, signaling the end of the conversation, but before she could Chris reached out to grab her arm.

No sooner than he'd made contact he found himself against the wall with his hand behind his back. "Let me go." He demanded trying to struggle.

"Don't you ever lay a hand on her again." Alice growled in anger. "Do you understand me?" She jerked his arm up making him nod quickly in agreement. Pulling him off the wall she pushed him towards the guards. "Get him out of my face." She ordered and they both quickly took custody on him.

"What about her?" One of the men asked looking towards the room door.

"I'll take care of it." Alice said trying to calm down. When they nodded and started to drag Chris away she turned to look at Claire. The red head was frowning at her lover and Alice just smiled shyly, "Sorry." She said.

Claire just shook her head and smiled, "Come on." She said leading the way into the room.

As soon as they entered Jill spun from her spot by the window, clearly ready to lay in to whoever was entering, but she stopped short when she saw who it was. "Alice…" She breathed in disbelief.

"You remember me?" Alice asked in surprise. "What else do you remember?"  
>Instead of answering she turned to look at the redhead next to Alice questionably. Sensing her hesitation Alice spoke, "Jill Valentine this is Claire Redfield, my partner and the leader of our ship."<p>

Looking at the redhead who was smiling brightly at her use of the term partner she said, "Jill here escaped Raccoon City with LJ, Carlos and Me. She is also responsible for pulling my ass out of the Detroit Facility." Turning back to the blonde she asked, "Now that introductions are out of the way, what else do you remember?"

"Bits and pieces." Jill shrugged, "I remember our escape from Raccoon City and up to your disappearing act, which by the way I'm still pissed about." When Claire narrowed her eyes in anger and opened her mouth to respond, Jill hastened to continue. "I understand why you left. I really do, but I'm still angry about it."  
>Alice placed a hand on Claire's back, calming her and nodded in understanding.<p>

What else?" she pushed.

"I remember the night Umbrella captured me and most of my time in the Organization, but nothing before that." Jill answered.

"How were you captured?" Claire asked speaking for the first time.

Jill smiled in self disgust. "About a week or so after Alice left we were holed up in a small house. I got restless and made the mistake of going out for a walk. They'd been searching for us for weeks and were closer than I thought. I went too far and they found me. I convinced them that both Carlos and LJ were dead and they took me back with them." She shrugged, "I always wondered what happened to you and the guys." She caught Alice and Claire exchanging looks. "What is it?"

"Carlos and LJ were part of my convoy for a while." Claire stated softly, still haunted by all the deaths that occurred to the members of her convoy. "They were killed in Nevada while we were trying to escape Umbrella."

Jill sighed and hung her head. After a moment she looked up at the other two women. "What happens now? What are you going to do with me?"

"That depends on you." Claire told her. "What do you want? Do you want to return to Umbrella or do you want to take your chances with us?"

"Return to Umbrella? Are you crazy?" Jill asked in anger. "Why the fuck would I want to return to those bastards?"

Claire just shrugged, "I had to ask."

"What are you two planning on doing?" Jill asked curiously. "Umbrella is pretty much in ruins now, thanks to Alice and her friends. The attack on Arcadia was ordered by the last surviving board member. Even so they will eventually try and retake their ship and their test subjects. It might be a year or so down the road but they won't give up."

"What else can you tell me about Umbrella?" Alice asked extremely interested.  
>"What do you want to know?" Jill countered and when Claire frowned she added, "I'm not trying to be difficult but it's easier for me to start with answering your questions and we can go from there."<p>

"How about telling me why Umbrella is so interested in getting me back." Alice said. "You said yourself that they consider me a failure so why not just order my termination instead of ordering you to capture me."

"Because they want to know why you failed." Jill answered.

"What do you mean?" Claire demanded, not liking the sound of where the blonde was headed.

"They want to study you first, Alice." Jill told her. "They want to dissect your brain, study your DNA and learn what went wrong."

Claire unconsciously moved closer to her lover at the horrible idea, but Alice seemed to have expected as much and nodded, "And what about this ship. What can you tell me about this ship?"

"Everything." Jill answered. "I was ordered to take control of the ship once you were captured and returned to Umbrella. I was given all the details and specifics of it. Its mission was to take the people they'd captured to an island close to Greece. It belongs to Umbrella and they were supposed to be settled there. They have a lab on the island already and were planning to use you all as test subjects."

"Oh that is just perfect." Alice said with a smile and looked at Claire. "This will make things a whole lot easier."

"Would you mind telling me what you plan to do next?" Jill asked. "I don't want to return to Umbrella, but I need to know what my choices are."

Claire looked at her lover for reassurance that it was safe to trust the blonde. She felt it was but she wanted to see how Alice felt. When the brunette gave her a single nod she looked at Jill. "We are leading whoever wants to follow us to a deserted Island about three thousand miles from here in the middle of nowhere. We plan on settling there. There is some talk of returning to Alaska so if enough people want to go there we will see that they are settled first."

Jill nodded, "And if I asked to join your group settling the island what would you say?"

Claire studied her hard for a moment before nodding, "I would welcome you to join us, but caution you that if I ever got a hint that you were still working for Umbrella or betraying us I would kill you myself."

Jill looked at her and just laughed in delight, "You got yourself a deal, Claire." She said stretching out a hand and shaking the redhead's. Looking at Alice she added with a wink, "And it seems like you have yourself a real winner." Alice just beamed at her and nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As it turned out ninety five percent of the survivors chose to follow Claire to the island. Those who choose Alaska eventually changed their minds when they saw that they were in the minority. Alice suspected that those wanting Alaska were scared of her, but when faced with a life alone or a life among people they got over their fear quickly. She simply stood back and watched with Jill as Claire started giving orders.

"Alright we need to break into groups." Claire called loudly. "Anne is going to be in charge of making our supply list. See her if you want anything added or if you want to volunteer to help her. Tom is going to oversee the inventory of supplies and Andrea has volunteered to work with a group to see what we can scavenge from the ship and use. They need help." Claire looked at K-mart and nodded, "K-mart is in charge of getting details from everyone. Please see her when you get a chance. We need to know what everyone's skills are and what we have to work with."

"Alice and Jill will be in charge of organizing our supply trips." Alice raised an eyebrow and looked at Jill at this news.

"We are?" she asked quietly but Jill just shrugged as Claire continued.

"Those who want to volunteer for the mission are welcome too, but please keep in mind that while this is absolutely necessary and extremely important it will also be very dangerous."

Alice couldn't help but admire her lover. She had such a commanding presence and she knew that Claire would lead them all to safety and a new life.

She wasn't sure what exactly would happen during the next days, weeks, months, or even years to come, but she knew it would be a wild ride. And with Claire by her side and her friends close she could actually envision having a life again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 6**

Almost a week later Claire, Alice, and Jill sat around the table in Alice and Claire's room eating dinner. K-Mart was off visiting with some of the other teenagers while the three adults discussed the mission that was to take place in two days. The morning they had all made their decision of settle on the Island Claire had given the command for the Captain to set sail for Southern California. The plan was to hit first San Diego and the Naval Complex and then work their way back up the coast to San Francisco and Los Angeles. They would raid the nearest warehouses, Malls, and large chain stores and hope to get all the supplies they might need. So far they had not seen any sign that Umbrella was looking for them, but Alice knew that eventually they would. It might not happen for months or even years, but eventually they would try again.

Alice and Jill had been over every inch of the ship removing all of the tracking devices and GPS locators. Anything that Umbrella could use to track the ship was deactivated and destroyed. They had tried to access the Umbrella data base but were unable to. They were afraid to hack into the system in case it was used against them, so instead Alice took all computers offline. The only electronic devices, they left running were those necessary to run the ship and the earwigs. A simple change in frequency, thanks to Jill's knowledge, and they were safe to use.

It had taken the people several days to do a complete inventory of the supplies that Umbrella had onboard, but when they were finished they found themselves to be in much more secure state than they had previously thought. According to Jill Umbrella had planned on settling the Island for the long term. The people would be set up and then would fend for themselves, while Umbrella used them as test subjects. There were large stockpiles of weapons that Jill told them were for the Umbrella soldiers to use to keep the 'colonist' in order. There were whole rooms that were stocked with canned foods and medical supplies and they also located one supply room that was a makeshift greenery containing different fruits, vegetables and supplies of seeds. Alice and Claire hoped that they would be able to grow at least some of them in the Island's soil.

They even found several crates of Solar Panels. They weren't sure what Umbrella had planned to use them for but K-mart had assured the women that she could use them for several different things. After taking stock of all the supplies on board, Alice couldn't help to feel that, for now at least, luck was on their side. She just hoped it would hold out during the next couple of weeks. Especially with the raids they had planned, because even though they were well supplied there were still many crucial items that they needed if they were going to be able to make a successful attempt at colonization. There were also several items that Alice wanted to try and procure for her lover.

"What is his problem anyway?" Jill asked referring to Claire's brother Chris. "We need his help with the raids and he's acting like a spoiled little bastard."

"I'm not sure." Claire said shaking her head. "Chris and I were never close growing up. He was five years older than me and had no time for a little sister. When mom and dad died he stuck around long enough to grant me legal status as an adult and then he split. He never wanted the responsibility that came with a younger sister, so I'm not sure why all of the sudden he's trying to control my every action."

"It's me." Alice said softly looking at her lover. "He's doing this because of me."

"What do you mean?" Claire demanded.

"He doesn't like me Claire. He thinks I'm dangerous." Alice told her gently. She didn't want to upset Claire anymore than she already was, but this situation had to be resolved. "It's the fact that you are with me and you chose me over him. That you support me over him."

"Well that's just stupid." Jill said. He needs to get over it, because we need his help. He's the only other person capable of leading one of the teams."

"Can we do it with just two teams?" Claire asked. "Just the one's you and Jill are leading?"

"We could." Alice nodded, "But the quicker we get what we need the better off we are. Three teams will spread things along."

"What exactly do you two have planed?" Claire asked. She put aside the discussion about Chris for a moment, in wake of her curiosity about their plans. She had been busy with her own duties over the past few days and had only gotten bits and pieces of their plans.

"You have to understand that nothing is concrete at this point." Alice advised her. "When we get there and see exactly what the situation is things might change."

"I understand that." Claire reassured her, "but what do you have planned."

"We think that the Undead will have probably congregated towards the center of the city, or even be heading out of it looking for living humans." Alice started. It was the pattern that she'd seen while taking out Umbrella's locations and what Jill had reaffirmed with her knowledge from her time with Umbrella. The Undead were moving, first through their cities and then out into other parts looking for living humans to feed on.

"The ports we are making for are deep enough for us to pull all the way in." Alice continued. "And the docks will be full of loading and unloading equipment. Hopefully we will find several transport trucks that are still in working order. We want to take those and use them to transport the people and the supplies. We can drive them right up to the loading docks at the mall, or the other stores and load supplies onto them. Then we can drive them back here. Unload them as quickly as possible and get back out into open water. While we make our way up the coast we can sort the supplies and figure out what else we need. At the next port we can narrow our focus depending on what we are lacking then."

"We have several hundred people who have volunteered for the supply missions." Jill added. "I'll take one team and Alice will take the other. The people who have military training or experience will act as the guards to the ones that are gathering supplies. There are several ATVs on board that we can move to the trucks on ramps and then use them to load and unload easier. The trucks offer protection for the people while we move through the city and make it easier to move things."

"And how are you going to clear the stores or areas quickly enough?" Claire asked. "These will have to be in and out missions, but we can't send people in without the coast being clear. We can't risk leaving them unguarded while they wait.

"Jill and I will go first with our teams." Alice said. "We can both sense the undead so we will be able to clear things quickly." When Claire nodded she said. "After the trucks are loaded we will come back here and back them up to the dock. Everyone here can help get the supplies in as quickly as possible and we will sort and take inventory later."

"And what do you want a third team for?" Claire asked.

"We want a team to secure and search the docks." Alice told her. "There might be things we can use in the warehouses, and we need to set up security perimeters to watch for any stray undead."

"Alright." Claire agreed seeing the wisdom, "But why Chris. As much as I want to be out there with you I am capable of overseeing the details here."

She saw Jill and Alice exchange looks and became defensive. "I'm not staying on the ship, Alice." She stated immediately. "I'm not waiting in safety while you are out there in danger."

"We don't want you to wait here." Alice said immediately trying to appease her lover. "We want you to be our eyes in the sky."

"Do what?" Claire asked confused.

"If…and let me stress if your brother comes around, and we can trust him, we want you and one other person to take up the Ospreys and keep a look out above the two teams." Alice explained. "However if your bother doesn't come around before then I think we will need you to stay here and keep an eye on him."

"What do you think he would do?" Claire asked her lover.

"I'm not sure." Alice admitted "and that's what worries me. Do you think we can completely trust him, Claire?" She asked seriously. "If you can tell me that no matter how crazy he's acting that you completely trust him not to sabotage us in some way then I won't worry about it anymore."

Claire studied her lover, thinking hard. She knew why Alice asked. There was more at stake here than just a few people and Chris had shown over and over again in the last few days just how much disdain he had for Alice. The question was how far he'd take it. How far would he go to get what he wanted?

"No." She said at length. "I don't trust him completely. I don't think he would ever try and hurt me, but he has so much anger right now. I just don't know."

Alice nodded but it was Jill that spoke, "Then I suggest we do something about him soon."

"I'll talk to him." Alice said and when Claire shot her a look she said, "I promise I won't lay a hand on him, but it's me he has a problem with, so I should be the one to try and find out why."

"Alright," the redhead agreed reluctantly, "But promise me something, baby." When Alice nodded she said, "If he lays a hand on you in any way. Teach him a lesson."

Alice just smirked in response. Later that evening Alice went in search of the other man. She'd purposefully left all but one of her guns behind and the only reason she carried the one was because she couldn't bring herself to go completely unarmed. Not out of fear of Chris, but out of habit. She finally located him on the top deck. He seemed to be unaware of her approach as he continued to stare out at the water. She simply leaned against the railing ten feet away and studied him, content to wait for him to notice her. She could see his muscles twitching and his jaw clenched. Whatever it was that was on his mind apparently was making him angry. If she had to guess she would guess that it was her.

It took nearly ten minutes but eventually Chris turned around and when he saw Alice standing there he stopped short. "What do you want?" He growled and Alice saw his muscles tense even further as if preparing for a fight.

She forced herself to remain calm. Thinking of Claire and knowing that she would do anything for the redhead, including putting up with her brother. She remained were she was, leaning against the rail with her arms crossed over her chest. "What is your problem with me Chris?" She asked in an even tone.

"What do you care?" Chris demanded. "What would an Umbrella project care if someone hates her?"

"Oh I care." Alice said pushing herself off the rail and moving towards the man. "I care because your anger is endangering everyone on this ship. I care because instead of working with us to complete the upcoming missions you are going around trying to insight people to start a riot. I care because instead of supporting Claire's position as leader, as a brother should, you are intentionally making things difficult for her. I care because your actions are not only risking the safety of everyone on this ship, but more importantly they are hurting Claire and that Chris is unacceptable."

She looked at him wondering if he was even listening to what she had to say or if he was simply imagining ways to turn Claire against her. "Anything that affects Claire is my concern, just as anything that affects me is hers, and anything that upsets or hurts Claire is something that I cannot and will not allow to continue. So I ask you again, what is your problem with me?"

"You." Chris finally spat out. "You simply being able to live among humans is my problem." Alice forced herself not to flinch. "You are too dangerous to exist. You are one of them, for all we know you could still be working for them. You belong to Umbrella and that is dangerous. You have too many powers that could hurt innocent people and you are dangerous to Claire, which is something I can't allow."

"And why all of a sudden do you care about Claire's safety?" Alice pointed out, "You haven't cared for the last fifteen years, why now." She shook her head at him. "I'm not your enemy Chris and I'm no danger to you. Yes I worked for Umbrella I've never hidden the fact. I was also there when the virus got out, but I wasn't working with them. I was working with a group of activist trying to bring them down. They took me, against my will and experimented on me. They did this to me, so why, why in this goddamn messed up world would I want to work for them. They striped me of my life, of my humanity and only Claire has ever been able to give that back to me. Even if I didn't love her that would be enough for me to devote myself to her cause, but I do love her Chris. And since I love her I will do everything in my power to protect her and the people she takes responsibility for."

She just looked at him waiting for him to comment, but when he didn't she shrugged, "think about it Chris, because we need your help and your skills for what is to come, but if you continue to act this way I will have you confined to quarters under guard and I guarantee you that Claire will give the order."

"No she won't." Chris countered, but Alice just shook her head.

"Yes she will Chris." She said trying to make him understand. "She is responsible for over two thousand people and you are being disruptive to our plans. She won't take the chance that you might make things worse. If she has too she will give the order." When he just stared at her she shrugged again. "You don't have to like me Chris, but you do have to trust that I will do what is best for Claire and you do have to work with me. Your only other choice is to either leave or be under constant guard. Think about it. We want your help with the plans. Our last meeting is tomorrow at 2:00pm. If you show up I'll take it as a sign that you want to work together, if not…" she gave one final shrug and left the sentence hanging before turning and walking away and heading to find Claire.

Alice silently entered the room to find Claire hard at work at the desk in the corner of the room. There were papers spread out all over the place and she knew that her lover was trying to make sure everything was in place. Instead of interrupting the redhead Alice simply leaned against the doorway and for a second time that evening took her time watching a Redfield.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 7**

Alice just watched entranced by the beauty of her lover. She could picture the concentration on her lover's face and the way her brow would furrow in thought. As she watched Claire tuck a piece of hair behind an ear, everything about the younger woman called to her. Suddenly, she was filled with the sensation of finally belonging, of finally having a home…Claire was her home. The thought caused her heighten senses to flare and that was when she noticed it.

Claire's scent… The Scent of her blood called to her. Alice always thought that Claire's blood was strong and sweet and it always called to her, even frightening her slightly at the strength of that call. But as the scent filled her senses she finally understood that it wasn't the calling to her as it would the undead, but in the same way that an animal's mate's scent called to it. The feeling always inflamed her desires and she flushed hotly as she recalled the feel of Claire's hands on her body, and of Claire's lips on her breasts…

Swallowing, she felt her pulse quicken as her breathing become shallow. The sound of her own heart pounded loudly in her ears as she walked over, coming up behind the smaller woman to wrap her arms tightly about her waist and bury her face in her neck, biting lightly at the pulse that beat just beneath the skin.

"Alice!"Sighing she stood and turned in Alice's embrace to give her a dry look. "You know I do have a lot of work that needs to be done. There's so much to do and very little time."

"I apologize, Claire." The brunette leaned in and kissed her. "It's just too much… so strong…"

Claire broke off the kiss to catch her breath. She looked into Alice's eyes and her breath left her again when she saw that the love there was darkened by an almost desperate desire. Need rolled off the older woman like waves of heat as her body shook with barely contained passion. Claire understood and she nodded almost imperceptibly.

Alice saw it and gave in to the emotions that were threatening to immolate her. She kissed Claire hard, pushing her back against the wall as her hands came up to hurriedly lift the shirt off before she reached for the belt at her waist. Once she had it unfastened, she pushed her to sit on the edge of the desk pulling her pants and undergarments off her legs. She stepped back just long enough to tear the clothes from her own body before sliding between her legs again and kissing her possessively.

Claire wrapped her fingers into her lover's dark hair as Alice's lips closed on her neck, leaving a trail a trail of red marks as she worked her way down to take one nipple into her mouth. Claire groaned as teeth bit down firmly on her swollen flesh. She felt moisture flood out from between her legs and gasped when the older woman threw her head back, her nostrils flaring.

In one fluid movement, Alice slid her left arm under Claire's buttocks and lifted her from the desk. She felt strong legs encircle her waist as she slipped her other hand between their bodies to tangle briefly in dampened curls before dipping lower to slide firmly between the thickly moistened folds of her lover's sex.

Claire cried out as Alice's fingers rubbed briefly over her clit before burying themselves deeply inside of her. For a moment, they were both still as the brunette reveled in the tightening muscles surrounding her fingers, then she began to move, lifting her up and back, grinding against her with her pelvis as she controlled their rhythm with the strength of her left arm.

Claire wrapped her arms around Alice's neck, moaning in pleasure as she gave up control, letting the older woman set the pace as she undulated her hips against the fullness inside of her.  
>The sensations were intense, the contact constant and sweet; the skin under her hands slick with sweat as Alice's muscles clenched with her exertions. Small grunts were the only sounds the brunette made as she increased her tempo, lifting Claire higher before pulling her back down. Her fingers flexed deep inside, looking for and finding all the places that she had memorized from their first two encounters, playing her fingers over them, relishing the sounds of passion they pulled from her lover's lips.<p>

"Dear… god… Alice" Claire began to shake uncontrollably from the exquisite sensations her lover was creating within her. Her fingertips dug into Alice's shoulders as she whispered, "Harder… please baby…harder."

The words tore through Alice like a bolt of lightning. She pushed Claire back onto the desk, leaning over her to capture a nipple between her lips as she used the lower half of her body to thrust into her, bringing her thumb up to play across the swollen bundle of nerves at the apex of her sex.

Claire leaned on her elbows, her head thrown back as she cried out her pleasure. "Oh god….Alice…" She closed her eyes tightly as the strongest orgasm she had ever felt rocketed through her, making her grind her teeth together and causing stars to swim in the darkness behind her eyelids. "Oh… my… God… Alice!" She knew she was screaming but she couldn't help it. Her muscles contracted almost painfully and she hung there, caught at the very peak until the waves of release crashed over her and she slid back, falling heavily onto the table.

Alice withdrew her fingers and slowly wiped them across Claire's lips before kissing her with a hunger that was not yet sated. She glanced up, seeing the dining room table a few feet away. She picked her lover up and carried her over to it, laying her down and spreading her thighs to bury her face between her legs. She suckled the small bundle of nerves ferociously, and joyously, as she felt the delicious nectar flow down her chin.

Claire grabbed Alice's head with one hand, holding her firmly in place as she used her other arm as leverage to lift her hips off the glass tabletop. She was amazed when she felt another wave growing within her even stronger than the first. Her body shook with the force of it as the vibrations echoed out from between her legs, causing her toes to curl and roots of her hair to tingle. When the crest finally broke, she knew she was crying out loudly but she couldn't hear herself over the pounding of her own heart. She fell back limply, closing her eyes as her head swam from the force of her release.

She wasn't sure how long she was out, but when she came to her senses, Alice was resting her cheek on her thigh as she gently kissed and nuzzled the tender flesh between her legs. She laughed weakly and stroked her lover's pale golden hair. "You are incredible." She whispered. Sitting up, she gently lifted the older woman's face to hers with her fingertips. She kissed her softly, tasting herself and saltiness of the tears that rolled unchecked down Alice's cheeks. "Come here."

She wrapped her lover up in her arms and held her quietly as she wept. She knew this encounter was about so much more than a sexual release. It was an emotional one that Alice needed desperately to feel.

"Will it… always be like this?" Alice whispered, her voice catching and Claire knew she wasn't only asking about the sex.

"If we're lucky." Claire slid off the table and pulled the brunette to her feet. "And you know luck has always been a good friend of mine." She could feel Alice's need vibrating through her body but something told her that her lover needed something much different for her own release. "Come with me."

She took Alice by the hand and led her to the bed. Laying her out on the bed, she stretched out next to her and linked one leg lightly through the long ones trembling beside her. She kissed her gently, using her lips and tongue to convey her love as her fingertips traced patterns across Alice's chest. She trailed them lightly across the breasts and the tight stomach, running them in between the bands of muscle that covered over her midsection. When the older woman was able to breathe easily again, she took one nipple between her lips and rolled her tongue over it, feeling Alice relax into the pleasure building inside of her.

Reaching down, she ran her hand up the inside of one smooth, firm thigh, shocked at the amount of moisture she found and by how far down her thighs it had traveled. Kissing her way down the long, strong body, she moved her tongue slowly into Alice's flesh, finding the ridge of nerves that were swollen and distended. She suckled it gently with her lips and tongue as the body beneath her began to move.

Everything was slow, sensual, exquisitely soft and loving and Alice's hips moved in a lazy tempo, keeping time with her ministrations as the passion built up inside of her. It wasn't long before she felt her lover's body go rigid, felt her hands tangle tightly in the sheets beneath her and the soft sounds of a gentle release fell from her lips. Kissing the swollen flesh one last time, she traveled back up Alice's body to wrap herself around her.

"Thank you." Alice whispered, nuzzling the red locks beneath her lips.

Claire laughed. "My pleasure."

The older woman flushed. "I don't know what happened to me. One moment I was admiring you, watching you work and the next moment the only thing I could think of was being inside of you. I apologize."

"No, no. You can ambush me anytime you feel like it." She tugged at the sheets, pulling them up to wrap around them both. "Are you tired?"

"I am exhausted. It's been a very eventful week." She rolled them over so that she could spoon the leader from behind. "But since I've been blessed to finally have you in my life and arms again, I can't bring myself to regret any of it."

Claire pulled the arm around her stomach tighter, relishing the warm skin that pressed up against the entire back of her body. "I'm torn." She admitted, "I hate that all of this has happened to us, to you, and to the world, but without it I might not have ever found you."

There was only a mumbled reply and Claire realized that her lover had already succumbed to her tiredness. Smiling contentedly, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

They woke the next morning and enjoyed several long minutes just laying in each other's arms before Claire rolled over and looked at her lover. "We have to get up don't we?" She asked with a playful pout and allowed her hands to roam the naked body before her.

"Well…" Alice drawled, "there are things that need to be done. People to talk to and plans to finalize." She hissed slightly when Claire tweaked one of her nipples playfully, "but we aren't due to arrive in port until noon, and it's still is early, so I think we could spare some time."

"My thoughts exactly." Claire smiled as she began to slide her hands across Alice's stomach lightly as she snuggled one knee between the brunette's thighs.

"What are you planning?" Alice asked.

Claire looked up at the beautiful face of her lover, aware of the change in respiration that caused her perfect breasts to begin rising and falling more quickly. "I think you know what my intentions are."

Alice laughed softly before kissing her passionately, her lips opening to allow the gently seeking tongue entrance into her mouth. At the same time, her thighs parted, allowing the younger woman's knee to rest more fully against her tender flesh.

"Mmmm." The redhead pulled away reluctantly. "As much as I would like to continue this, I really need a shower."

"Your shower will wait." The brunette said firmly, raising one hand to cover her lover's breast.

Claire laughed. "Why don't you join me? I'll wash your hair. It's one of the small pleasures in life that I would love to share with you."

Aroused, Alice allowed her to climb out of bed and followed her into the bathroom, watching closely as she turned the knobs and checked the temperature of the water that ran down in a cascade from the showerhead.

Claire pointed to a tiled bench in the corner of the decently sized stall. "Get yourself wet and then go sit over there."

One eyebrow raised, Alice did as she was told. When Claire stepped into the shower with her, she found herself fascinated by the way the water moved over her body, gathering into waterfalls that fell from her breasts in small torrents. She continued to watch as her lover filled her palm with liquid from a dispenser and turned to her.

"Ok, lower your head just a bit." Claire rubbed her hands together and then slid them into the mass of dark hair, using her fingertips to massage her scalp gently.

"Oh." The brunette took a quick breath, her entire body tingling from the feel of those long elegant fingers playing with her hair. She had never showered with someone before and she found it was arousing her greatly.

"That is… very enjoyable." From her seat she was in the perfect position to take a plump nipple into her mouth and she did so with great enthusiasm.

"Yes," Claire breathed. "It is." She continued massaging her hands through her lover's hair even as she felt her back arch to press her breasts more firmly against Alice's questing mouth. She found she had to focus intently on her task otherwise she would cease moving altogether.

The taller woman brought her other hand up and cupped the redhead's left buttock, using it to pull her closer. The combined sensations did much to stimulate her desire and she bit down firmly on the nipple between her teeth, making Claire gasp softly.

"I think we need to get the soap out of your hair… now." Claire purred.

Alice rose and allowed the water to flow over her until all of the suds were gone. Then she stood patiently as her lover grabbed a bar of scented soap and worked up a good lather. When Claire moved towards her, she began to shake, anticipating the feel of the warm hands on her wet skin.

It was more than she was ready for. The beloved hands and fingers moved over her, smooth and slick, creating a heat between them that she would not have thought possible without friction. They touched her everywhere, paying extra attention to the nipples that were swollen in their need, before sliding around across her back and buttocks. Finally, they moved around to the front of her body and slid between her legs.

"Oh my." Claire breathed, feeling the slicker than soap moisture already gathered there. Losing herself in the feel of her lover, she allowed her fingers to play firmly across her swollen ridge, encouraged by the soft moans emanating from Alice's lips.

The brunette placed both of her hands against the shower walls, trying to hold herself up as her legs became weak. When Claire finally ceased playing and entered her in one smooth movement, her head fell back against the wall and she groaned. "Yes… please… "The redhead smiled, taking one nipple between her lips as her hand snaked around Alice's back to pull her more fully against her. She felt the powerful hips start to surge and she lost all control, devouring her breasts as she thrust faster and harder into the warmth at her fingertips.

"Clai…re…." Alice was having a hard time breathing and standing erect but she held on, not wanting to lose the exquisite feeling of the slippery body moving against hers. When her orgasm hit, it was hard and strong, sending her senses reeling as she crushed her lover's body to her. "Oh god…Claire..."

Claire didn't stop. She felt the muscles around her fingers convulse wildly, and the strong arms around her tighten but she still continued. "Alice..." She said in a wicked whisper. "I know you have one more for me… I want to feel you come again."

Alice began to shake wildly, Claire's words doing as much to push her towards a second release as her hands were. As she felt it build, she brought her mouth to Claire's neck, biting down on the soft flesh, leaving a red mark behind before moving to capture the younger woman's lips. The kiss was hot, almost harsh, lips pressed together in mutual need as Alice groaned her second release into her mouth before sliding back down onto the bench, her body shaking as the waves of pleasure moved through her and finally subsided.

The brunette looked up at her, her intent plain on her face and the younger woman had no time to react before she was pressed up against the back of the shower stall, her legs spread with Alice kneeling between them.

Oh God..." She gasped as her lover's velvet tongue captured her bundle of nerves and two fingers slid smoothly inside of her. She laid her palms on Alice's shoulders as the brunette suckled her with wild abandon, her fingers thrusting into the slick channel with a firmness that met her need and enflamed it to new levels. She wound her fingers into Alice's hair as the brunette cupped her buttocks and pulled her hips forward to meet her fingers, her tongue never losing contact with the hard ridge of nerves that were singing with pleasure.

"oh god… Alice..." Claire's cries were amplified by the close quarters and she wondered briefly if she was going to be hearing from her neighbors but then decided she didn't really give a damn as Alice's fingers found the spot within her that made her lose the ability to think altogether.

Alice didn't hear her. She was lost in the movements of Claire's body and the gentle feel of the water cascading down off her back. But when the strong hips bucked wildly and then began to shake uncontrollably, she knew her lover was close. She thrust one last time, pushing in as far as she could before she flexed her fingers strongly, feeling Claire's release as it flowed out and down her palm. Leaning back, she gently withdrew and brought her fingers to her mouth, trying to lick the moisture from them before it was washed away.

Claire stroked the brunette's head gently. "I love you, Alice." She whispered, drawing the younger woman up to kiss her passionately.

"I love you too." The brunette smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

Chapter 8

"How did the conversation between you and Chris go last night?" Claire asked as they finally left their room. She knew she should feel bad about all the time they spent enjoying each other's bodies but she simply couldn't find it in herself to care. It had been wonderful to spend a few extra hours locked in their own little paradise where there was nothing to worry about except making sure her lover was thoroughly pleased. She cherished those rare moments when there were no undead to watch for, no private companies looking for them to use them as lab rats, and no brothers trying to undermine her authority instead of helping.

As nice as it all was, once they stepped out of their door she became the responsible leader again and placed her personal life aside, which Alice understood. Alice shrugged, "It went." She said cryptically, but when Claire shot her a glare she elaborated. "I talked, he yelled, I told him his options and then I left. That's about it."

"What options did you give him?" The redhead was curious. She knew what ever her lover suggested she would support, she couldn't take the risk otherwise.

"I told him he could either get over his problems and help us or he would be placed under guard." She looked at Claire to gauge her response. "That I won't allow him to endanger this ship, our plans, and most importantly I won't allow him to upset you with his actions."

"My hero." Claire's tone was dry but she was smiling at the brunette. "How will you know what he chose?"

"I told him if he showed up at our meeting this afternoon I would take it as a sign that he wants to help and would put his problems aside." Alice explained. "And If he doesn't come then I'll I would assume he isn't going to comply."

Claire nodded in understanding and acceptance. "If he doesn't come I'll give the order." She reached out and squeezed Alice's arm gently. "I might not have ever been close to Chris, but I never thought he was capable of this. I wish I knew what happened to him."

"A lot of people changed after the world ended." Alice said softly. "We all became people we never were before and most of us have done things we never thought we would. Some changes were for the better; others were for the worst."

"Be that as it may" Claire countered, "I won't let him or anyone endanger what we are trying to accomplish." She shook her head as she gently pushed the door open to the wheelhouse. "Brother or not, if he doesn't come around soon I will have him locked up."

Alice could only nod. She knew her lover was right but she hated the fact that it might come to that. There were only two people in the room when they entered. One was the man who had been acting as Captain, Jason and the other was Jill. She stood at the windows looking out with a pair of binoculars.

She turned to look at the new comers and opened her mouth to say something, something smart Alice figured, but then closed it again and shook her head. "Come look at this." She instructed offering the binoculars to Alice.

"What is it?" Alice questioned.

"Where I think we are going make land tomorrow." Jill told her, pointing to the location.  
>Alice scanned it closely before handing the binoculars off the Claire and turning her attention to the blonde. "I count nine transport trucks." Alice stated, "And I see no sign that the warehouses or trucks were ever raided. How is that possible?"<p>

"Maybe their infection started here?" Claire suggested. "Or maybe it had the greatest numbers of undead at one time and kept people away."

"Could be." Jill nodded, "But I see no signs of any undead from here, though we are too far away for me to get any kind of reading." Alice nodded in agreement. "Hopefully some of those trucks have fuel."

"If not I bet there's some in the fuel tanks along the docks." Alice suggested and then looked over at the Jason, "What about filling this sucker up, Jason? Do we need to add that to the list?"

The older man thought for a few minutes, mentally calculating before answering, "It couldn't hurt. We have enough to do what we planed and make it to the island. We should also have enough to make it back to land once, but more fuel couldn't hurt."

"Alright, we'll add it to the list." Claire told him looking at her watch. Turning towards the others she added, "Come on we need to get downstairs for the meeting." The two other women simply nodded and followed her out with a wave to the captain.

The meeting was taking place in the chow hall and included everyone on the ship. The only exceptions being those who were standing guard. They wanted everyone to know what was going to happen tomorrow. Both Claire and Alice were surprised and relieved to see Chris leaning against one of the tables, waiting patiently for things to begin.

"Alright everyone listen up." Claire said wasting no time in getting started. "We all know that we're here to discuss what will happen tomorrow. As much as we all might hate the idea, and trust me I do hate it, it is imperative that we make the next few raiding trips successful. So please listen to Alice and Jill as they explain our plans to everyone."

Alice shot her lover a look then stood up and faced the crowd anyway. "I'll keep this as simple as possible. Tomorrow morning an hour after sunrise we will drop anchor at Coronado Naval Complex. From there we're going to divide into teams and go out into the city. Now while we do have a list of imperative items the idea is to get in and get out as quickly as possible. To that aim we want everyone back at the docks by noon."

She looked around at those gathered and while she could see and smell the fear in the room, she could also see the determination. We will divide into groups. One group will be with me and another with Jill. Those groups will take the Transport vehicles located on the docks and make their way into San Diego. They can be parked right up to the loading docks and we can exit straight into the stores once the place has been secured. From there we will divide into smaller teams, ten people per team, four will be in charge of securing the team's safety while the other six will be in charge of savaging items. One team will stay back at the transport and help load the supplies as they come in along with a dozen people for security."

"Won't it take too much time for us to take loads back and forth from the shops to the truck?" Someone asked from the back.

Alice nodded, "This ship has on board no less than six ATV's and Trailers. We will be sending two with each team and four people will be in charge of them. They will be driving around and you can load you supplies on them and they will transport them back to the truck."

"Don't be picky with what you grab." Claire threw in. "This is the first trip of three, so for this one I want you to grab anything you think we might need, no wasting time with the list."

Some of the people nodded in agreement to that statement, while someone else asked, "Where are the two trucks headed?"

"We have several different locations in mind, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow." Jill explained. "At sunrise tomorrow we will take the two of the Ospreys out and get an overhead visual of the city. We will then head for the parts that have the least amount of undead."

"What about the rest of us?" Luther asked "What do we do?"

"The majority of you will stay on the ship and prepare for the trucks to arrive." Alice told them, "We will have to work fast when we unload.

The goal will be to get it on board and get back to open water. We can sort and take the inventory on the trip north. Anne and Tom will be in charge of the group that remains on the ship. They will direct you in preparing the areas."

"Chris will be in charge of the third group that is leaving the ship." Alice told them and she could see Chris' interest was raised. "Your responsibility will be to secure the area surrounding the ship and to refuel her. Also several small groups will go out with the remaining ATV's and search the warehouses and stores on the naval base for supplies."

"The last group will be with Claire." Jill said, "She and one other person will take the Osprey into the air and keep a lookout from the sky. They can radio back to us if they spot any undead in the area and hopefully offer us another way back to the ship if needed. If anyone has skills as a pilot let us know."

Claire could see Chris getting ready to volunteer but she warned him to be silent with a look. Luckily one of the men in the back raised his hand instead. "Thanks John." Claire smiled at the older man and he just nodded.

"Right, so everyone who is leaving the ship needs to report to the armory at sunrise tomorrow." Alice told them, "Jill will see that you are properly equipped. So if there are no more questions…" She waited for several long minutes and then nodded, "Tomorrow morning it is then." And with that dismissal the people began to leave. Claire, Alice, Jill, and K-mart stayed behind and waited as Chris approached them.

They all just stared at each other for several long minutes until Chris broke the silence. "So why did you stop me from volunteering to fly the second Osprey?"

Alice ignored the question and asked one of her own. "Can I take it by your presence here that you have decided to support your sister and assist us with our plans?"

Chris studied her hard. "I don't like you." He said bluntly.

K-mart and Jill stiffened and Claire growled, but Alice just shrugged, "I don't particularly like you either."

Chris' eyes narrowed, that wasn't the response he expected. "I probably won't ever like you." He tried again.

Alice seemed unconcerned. "Again the feeling is mutual." This time K-mart snorted and quickly covered her mouth to hold in the laugh.

"I don't think you are any good for my sister." He said laying all his cards on the table.

This time Claire was the one to respond. "That's not your call." She growled in warning.

Chris nodded resignedly in agreement, "I know. And I know you don't need me to protect you." He looked directly at his sister. "You were right. I wasn't a good brother to you growing up and I wasn't there for you when I should have been. So, while I might not agree with who you have decided to share your life with I can respect it and support you."

"Fair enough." Claire said after a few moments. "But remember Chris, brother or not, if you ever do anything against me, this group, or Alice I will take you down."

Chris nodded, not doubting her words for a moment.

"So…"Alice said breaking the silence, "Your question." When he turned his attention to her she continued, "The reason is simple. While you might not like or trust me, deep down I knew you wouldn't do anything to upset Claire."

Chris nodded but his confusion was clear. "We don't know everyone on this ship." The brunette explained, "And while I would like to offer blind trust to them I can't. I need someone here that will guarantee that while we are gone those remaining won't get anxious and leave." She could see his surprise at the statement. "So who better to make sure the ship doesn't leave until Claire and the others return than her brother."

"And what about you?" Chris couldn't help by ask. "Who's going to make sure you aren't left behind?" Immediately the tension returned.

"Me…" Alice smiled at her lover's brother. "Why that's what Claire's for. I doubt that she or even K-mart would let me be left behind."

"Damn straight." Came the dual answer from the teenager and the redhead and immediately the tension was broken and they all laughed.

"What's my job tomorrow?" K-mart asked after their laughter had quieted.

Alice and Claire exchanged looks, "You're with me tomorrow, K." Claire told her after a few seconds. "I want you in the air with me keeping a lookout."

"Yes, Ma'am." K-mart couldn't help but grin at being included and treated like an adult instead of a kid.

~~~~~~~~

At sunrise Alice, Claire and K-mart took off in one Osprey while John and his son Josh took off in the second. Both ships flew in different directions scouting the areas they planned to raid.  
>"Where are they?" K-mart asked about 30 minutes later. They had only seen small groups or individual undead moving around. In a city this size she'd expected to see thousands. "I've seen maybe a hundred or so total and even they are moving away from where we want to go."<p>

"They're there." Alice said indicating to the east. "They're all moving east, inland towards the center of the country." It was what Jill had reported to her, but she couldn't bring herself to believe it. But as the others looked towards the eastern edges of the city they could see it too. Great groups of undead were moving east, northeast, and southeast.

**John, man are you seeing what I'm seeing?** Claire called over the earwigs.

**Yeah I see it.** Came the older man's voice. **I've got thousands on the north side all moving inland.**

**Copy that.** Claire responded. **We've got the same thing on the south side. I say we head back. We'll go to targets A and B. They are the largest and give us what we need first.**

**Yes, Ma'am.** John said. **Josh and I will stick with group B.** He knew that their leader would want to fallow Group A. Alice was leading that group and he couldn't blame the young redhead for wanting to protect her partner. He would have done the same thing if his wife was out there.

**Jill, You copy.** Alice said after a moment.

**Go ahead, Alice.** Came Jill's voice. **What did you guys find?**

**Looks pretty clear.** Alice informed her. **As you thought the majority of the undead are moving inland. You'll need to be on the lookout for small groups or singles. How are things on your end?**

**We're all locked and loaded, waiting for your command.** Jill told her. **Everyone else is standing by for their duties.**

Alice looked over at Claire seeking her permission. She was the leader and Alice would never do anything to undermine that. Claire smiled at her. "It's your op, baby. It's your call." While Alice saw her as the leader, Claire was more than happy to defer to her lover in these matters. She knew that Alice and Jill had the greater experience.

Alice nodded to her once in understanding. **Jill let's move out. Send Chris' team out to secure the immediate area and then get the trucks loaded. We're heading back now and will land in the parking lot in fifteen minutes.**

**Copy that.** Jill's voice returned. **We'll be ready for you then.**

When they landed fifteen minutes later they were in the midst of all the activity. Alice could see the perimeter set up around the main area consisting of fifty men. She knew that very few of them had any training as soldiers, but they were doing the best that they could. Once they managed to find someplace safe she and Jill had already talked about ways to remedy that. They knew the day would come when Umbrella would find them and they planned to be ready. Pushing those thoughts aside she turned to face an approaching Jill.

"I did a quick scan of the area and I can't detect any infected beings." The blonde told her as she approached. Alice nodded, she hadn't detected anything either.

"What about the trucks." Alice asked hoping the news was good.

Jill smiled at her. "We found three that were operational and full of gas. I wouldn't waste any of it, but we're good to go. "The ATV's are loaded and the people are inside."

"Good. Let's get this over with." She waved Chris, Luther, and Claire over. "We're heading out. Stay on Chanel 5 and be back here by noon. What we don't get by then we'll get at the next city." They all nodded and she turned to look at her lover.

Everyone else chose that moment to move aside giving them privacy. "Be careful." Claire said softly.

"I will. Keep an eye out for me." Alice said and leaned in a kissed her gently. "I love you, Claire." She whispered pulling back.

"I love you too, baby." Claire said smiling softly. "Now get going so we can get this done."

"Yes, Ma'am." Alice gave her a salute and then winked at her. Turning around she went to her truck.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 9**

Alice sighed as she quickly got rid another undead. It was nine in the morning and they had been at work in the local mall for two hours. So far they'd only had to eliminate a handful of zombies. **All teams report in**. She said activating her radio. She'd been checking in with all the teams every thirty minutes.

It was natural for her to fall back into her military training for the mission and while most of the people with them had no military experience, Chris, Jill, and John all did. Claire just knew enough not to comment. This was what it took to keep them alive and she would easily accept her lover's guidance.

**Home base here, Alice.** Chris was the first respond. **We're all clear. Still no sign of anything. The Ship is refueled and our teams are loading some supplies as we speak.**

**Bravo team here**. Jill said next. She and her group had gone to a local home supply store and then we're going to hit the hardware store next door. Two stops might have been pushing it, but they knew they could get a lot of good supplies if they hadn't already been picked over. Jill had reported that while raided, both stores still had plenty of supplies. **We're finishing with the first store and getting ready to move to the next. The truck's about half full so we'll probably finish early.**

Alice knew they could only load the truck three fourths full before they would have to leave the rest of the supplies behind. The teams and the ATV's would have to be squeezed into the rest of the space. Even then it would be a tight fit but they all agreed it was necessary. **Great, let me know if you head out early.**

**Copy that.** Jill responded.

**We're good to go, Alice.** Claire said next. **Still only a few scattered groups. None within a half mile of your location.**

**Copy that**. Alice called stepping out of the way as Kevin, one of the ATV drivers went past her with a load for the trucks. Amy was sitting on the back with a rifle at the ready for security. Both were only 19 years old, but they were taking things very seriously. Amy gave Alice a smile and a two finger solute as she passed and Alice nodded in return. **Let me know if anything comes up Claire. How are you and John on Fuel?**

**We're good.** Claire told her lover. **We'll both have enough to stay air born until noon, but I want to refuel before we leave.**

**Sounds good, Alice out.** Alice broke the connection and stepped up to talk to Frank. He was in his late twenties and tall. He was acting as her right hand by directing the ATV's to the different locations.

"How's it going?" She asked him.

He smiled at her. "Good but slow. We're so spread out and having to take the ATV's to the freight elevators is slowing us down." When Alice nodded in understanding he asked, "Why did we choose a mall anyway?"

"We figured it would be the best place to load up on clothing supplies." She told him with a smile, "Clothes, shoes, sporting goods, all in one place. This will probably be the only mall we hit. We'll focus on the same type of stores as Jill team next time."

"That's reasonable." Frank smiled at her. "I think we have one team that's raiding a book store and some of the younger ones raided an electronics store."

Alice snorted. "The book store was Claire's orders. She's determined that she's going to be able to educate the young ones. She drives K-Mart crazy with it now."

"Makes sense." He agreed. "What about the electronics store."

"I think that one was probably K-mart's doing." She said with a laugh. "She's turned into quite the techie. Mickey was teaching her before he died. She was going on the other day about wanting solar chargers and what she could do with it. To tell you the truth I wasn't listening."

"She reminds me of a kid I served with in the core." Frank said fondly. "Give her enough time and she'll have settlement hooked up and ready to go. No electricity in the houses, but movies playing every night on solar powered projection units."

Alice laughed at the truth of the statement. She had a feeling that this settlement was going to be very unique. "What branch did you serve in?"

"I was a major in the marie corps, before the world went to hell." Frank told her. "I miss it at times too, but what can you do?" He shrugged.

"Do you now?" Alice asked with a smirk, "Well then you will love what Jill and I have planned for the settlement."

She just ignored his curious look and clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm going to wonder around and check the place some more. Plus, I have a few things I want to look for. Call me if you need me. And remember we need to be out of here by 11."

"Will do." He said with a smile and then turned back to directing the group.

As she walked away she added over her shoulder, "Make sure one of the teams hit the pharmacy on the bottom level. We could use the medical supplies."

"I'll send Susan's team." He told her. "She's a nurse and will know what all the meds are."

"Sounds good." Alice waved as she made her way along the walkway. She hadn't told anyone what she was looking for, but she wanted to get something for Claire. She knew that things were moving fast with them. Maybe it was the fact that they were in the middle of the Apocalypse and they both cherished every moment together because they knew either one could die any day now. Whatever the reason she found she didn't care. She knew she loved the redhead more than she ever imagined.

She wanted to spend the rest of her life with Claire, however long that may be and as crazy as it might sound, she wanted something normal for them. Something that really had no place in their new world, but something she knew Claire would want too. Finding what she wanted she broke the glass at a jewelry store and stepped through the windows. Reaching out with her senses she made sure no one was inside before she went to the display cases.

~~~~~

Jill walked down the aisles watching one of her groups load one of the ATV's and helping where she could. She still couldn't believe that she ended up here. She knew it was more than she deserved and she was thankful that she was given a chance to right the wrongs she was forced to commit while working for Umbrella.

More than that she was happy to have a chance to reconnect with her old friend. She'd been angry when they woke that morning to find Alice gone, but deep down she understood why. They were all still reeling from Angie's death and she knew that the pain of not being able to save the girl was causing Alice's new powers to spin out of control. She understood that Alice felt like she was a danger to her friends and felt that until she could fully understand and control what Umbrella had done to her, she wasn't safe to be around.

When she was captured by Umbrella she had been experimented on. While she was laying on the table all she could think was that she finally understood how Alice must have felt. When she was fully under their control she was assigned the task of locating and capturing Alice, she had studied everything she could about the ex-project and everything that was done to her. Then it was just required knowledge to complete her mission, but now that she was free she used that knowledge to better understand and even forgive her friend.

She could only guess at what Wesker had injected her with and how it would affect her, but she knew she needed to find the time to talk to Alice about it soon. She knew of the relationship that was forming between Alice and Claire and she could sense the bond developing between them as well.

She'd been shocked when she had detected small traces of the virus in the redhead several days ago, and even more surprised when Alice didn't seem to notice it. But as she studied what she was sensing closer she realized that it wasn't just any infection. It was identical to what was flowing through Alice's veins and somehow Claire had gotten Alice's blood in her body. That also explained why Alice didn't sense it. She was so used to the feeling that she didn't detect it in her partner.

Whatever happened hadn't had any adverse effects on their leader and Jill could only guess at how it would change her, but what she was sure of was that Claire wasn't contagious and wasn't going to turn, so she put off talking to the two about it until their first mission was over.

"That's it, Jill." Andrea called, walking towards her. "We are full and can't get any more supplies in there."

Jill looked at her watch. It was ten. They could head back now and hopefully have the truck unloaded by the time that Alice's group showed up. It would speed things along and allow them to get back out to open water faster. "Alright" She nodded. "Load it up. I'll call it in to Alice and we'll get out of here."

"Right away." Andrea said, moving off to tell everyone that they were leaving.  
>As Jill followed she hit her comms. <strong>Alice, this is Jill. Do you copy?<strong>

**Go ahead, Jill**. Alice responded after a minute.

**We're fully loaded, Alice**. Jill told the brunette. **We're finishing up and heading back.**

**Copy that.** Alice told her. **Go ahead and be careful. Chris, did you read?**

**We got you, Jill.** Chris said. Still all clear here. **We'll be standing by to help you unload when you arrive.**

**See you in thirty.** Jill said hopping into the cab next to Andrea.

**John, follow them back and then return to help Claire.** She heard Alice order.

**Will do.** John replied. **I'll be back in a while, Claire.**

**I read you.** Claire said and then turned her attention to Alice. **How are you guys coming along, Alice?**

**Well, we were slowed down a little by one of the groups deciding to raid an electronic store.** Her teasing voice came over the comms and Claire shot a look at K-mart who just shrugged shyly. **But other than that we're good. We should be close to full by the time to leave, but I don't think I want to hit any more malls after this. They're too spread out and take too much time.**

**Copy that.** Claire was about to continue when K-mart tapped her shoulder and pointed to the ground. She looked down and spotted a group of twenty or so undead heading in Alice's direction about two blocks away. **Alice you've got incoming. Twenty undead two blocks south heading in your direction.**

**Damn.** Alice swore. **Alright I've got it.**

**Be Careful.** Came Claire's warning as she turned to look at Frank. "Keep loading." She instructed. "You're in charge until I get back."

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going to take care of our uninvited guests." She told him with an evil smile. "I'll be back."

"I hate this part." Claire mumbled to K-mart as they watched Alice leave the mall. "I wish she wouldn't go alone."

"Come on Claire, it's not like she needs the help." K-mart reasoned. "Damn I bet you a smoke that she doesn't even have to get close to them with her powers."  
>Claire snorted, "No bet, K."<p>

Alice silently made her way in the direction of the incoming group trying to decide the best way to take care of them. Her blood called for to pull out her blades and finish them off one by one, but she pushed it way. It was too dangerous. Taking them on like that would no doubt lead to her being covered in their blood, and while she couldn't get infected from that, the others could. She contemplated simply shooting them but that would make too much noise and possibly draw others to their location.

As she rounded the last corner she could see them moving down the street. Looking around she spotted a pile of rubble and a smirk formed on her face. Reaching out with her telekinetic powers she caused two dozen quarter size rocks to rise in the air.

"What is she doing?" Claire asked, watching her lover.

K-mart, who was looking through the binoculars, smiled, "She's got a group of rocks floating next to her." They watched as one by one Alice sent the rocks flying dead center into the heads of the zombies.

"Fuck…" K-mart drawled, "She's using them as bullets."

Alice watched emotionlessly as one by one the undead dropped silently to the ground.

**All clear?** She asked over the earwigs.

K-mart checked the area by scanning around quickly, **All clear.** She called back before adding, **Alice, that had to be the coolest thing I've ever seen.**

Alice just smirked up at the Osprey flying over head and gave them one of her two finger solutes. Spinning on her heels she quickly made her way back to the group. By the time she located Frank it was 10:45am. "Time to close it down, Frank." She called out as she approached him. "Let's load it up and get out of here."

"Sounds like a damn fine plan to me, Ma'am." He smiled at her. "How did your hunting go?" She just smirked in response, causing him to laugh. Load it up. He called out of the comms.

At that point she watched as the ATV's took off with their final loads and the people began coming out of the stores and heading towards the main loading dock carrying armloads of supplies. She waited until the last person was in before she shut the truck doors and secured them. She was happy to see the truck two thirds full of supplies and knew that between her them and Jill's team they had made a good start. Jumping into the seat next to Frank she said, "All clear, let's go." As he put the truck into drive she called Claire over the comms, **Back to the ship, Claire. We're done here.**

**Copy that.** Claire answered her lover, we'll see you soon.

Arriving back at the docks they could see the others finishing up with the first truck. She shot Frank a look and then jumped out to meet an approaching Jill.

"How did it go?" She asked as she watched Claire land the Osprey to refuel before returning it to the Hanger. She could see John waiting patiently for his turn.

"Good, we got plenty." Jill said and then dropped her voice. "I've already scanned my team as I released them from the truck. They're all free of infection. I gave orders to Chris not to let anyone on the ship until we check them and Luther knows to keep those who are back onboard there."

"Good." Alice said with a nod. They had talked with Claire and all agreed that anyone who stepped off the ship would be checked for infection by either Jill or Alice before they were allowed back on. "Help me check mine as they unload and then we'll take up positions, one at the bottom of the ramp and one at the top."

Jill nodded and followed Alice to the back of her truck. Opening the doors they lowered the ramp and allowed the people in the back to unload, paying close attention to them as they did. Getting a nod from Jill they moved over to the ramp and took up their positions. Jill stood and the top near the hold, while Alice took her place at the bottom. They watched as the first truck was moved and then second took its place. The ATV's were the first off and then the survivors formed a line and started passing supplies from one person to the next.

Claire had docked her bird and helped John get's his in, before coming to stand by Alice. "Are we all clear?" She asked softly.

"So far, so good." Alice told her. Claire reached out and squeezed her arm gently and smiled, before going to locate her brother and see how he had managed.  
>It took them nearly thirty minutes to clear out the second truck and once it was pulled away Alice hit her earwig again. <strong>Alright, Chris, that's it. Pull them all back in.<strong>

**Copy that.** He answered and she could hear him giving the orders to fall back to the Arcadia. Alice and Claire were the last two to board the ship where Luther was standing by to raise the ramp. He nodded to them as he hit the button to raise it up and Claire turned to Chris.

"Let's get the hell out of here." She said.

"Sounds good to me." Chris smiled at her. "I'll go tell Jason to get us going."

"Alright, see you in a while." Claire said and then turned to see Anne approaching her, Jill, and Alice who were talking quietly to the side.

"My lord, did you three bring me back plenty to play with." Anne smiled at them.

Claire laughed, "Glad to help. How long do you think it will take to sort everything and take inventory?"

"We should be done by tomorrow afternoon." Anne told her. "I have plenty of people who want to help."

Claire nodded, "Let's get together tomorrow night then and see where we stand and what we need. We've got three days before we hit Los Angeles."

"Sure thing." Anne said and patted Claire's arm.

As the older woman left Jill turned to the two. "We need to talk in private." She wanted to get this over with. The two exchanged looks and nodded. They followed her as she led them towards their room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

A/N: A big thank you to the reader who FINALLY pointed out to me what a big mistake I made by posting the un edited chapter with all my notes. I've corrected it. Thank you so much.

Chapter 10

As soon as they had entered their room both Alice and Claire had relieved themselves of their weapons and outer shirts. Now they sat on the couch watching Jill pace. She hadn't looked at them or spoken to them since they entered. Eventually Claire had enough. "For Fucks sake Jill, all your pacing is making me nervous. Spit it out already."

Jill pulled up short and studied redhead before turning to Alice. "Has she always been this aggressive?"

Alice just shrugged, "Sometimes. Now what's wrong?"

Jill flopped down on a chair and leaned forward. "How much to you know about the T-virus and how it affects the host or more specifically how it affects the host differently?"

"Well you have the undead which are the majority." Alice said recalling what she had learned in the Nevada facility. "And then you have people like me whose blood binds with it completely, and it was theorized that some people would be able to coexist with it. The last two means that it increases our speed, strength, healing abilities, and extends our life."

Jill nodded, "What do you know about the G-virus?"

Alice just raised an eyebrow, "Nothing." She admitted, "What is it?"

"Umbrella's newest creation." Jill admitted with a sigh. "It works the same as the T-virus but in 98% of the cases the mutations are constant, continuing on until the subject is dead."

"And the other two percent?" Claire asked already suspecting she wouldn't like were this was going.

"The other two percent respond much like the T-virus." Jill said, "They either bond with it or co-exist with it."

"Why are you just now telling us this?" Claire demanded. Her suspicions were making her snappy.

"Because it took me a while to figure out what I was sensing." Jill looked directly at Alice. "Do you know what Wesker injected you with?" She asked softly.

"No, but I'm betting you are going to tell me it wasn't the anti-virus." Alice said dryly. "What happens when a host has both viruses in their system?"

Jill saw Claire stiffen in realization but she pushed forward. "In your case I would say you have bonded with both of them." She looked at the brunette.

"Surely you've noticed your growth spurt. Your taller, you have more muscle density, and it's clear that your abilities are stronger." When Alice nodded she asked, "What else have you noticed since you were injected?"

"Nothing until my powers returned." Alice said shaking her head. "Though this information helps explain why they were dormant for a time.

I'm going to guess that I lost them for a time because my body was adapting to having both viruses in it."

Jill nodded, "And since their return?"

"Other than what you already mentioned." Alice sighed, "My senses or stronger, my sight is better, and my sense of smell is more developed. I can identify a person by their smell and…" She trailed off and looked at her lover.

"What is it?" Claire asked gently, moving so she was right next to Alice. Offering her support and the silent promise that no matter what she wasn't leaving.

"Your blood, it calls to me." Alice admitted lowering her head in shame. "The smell of your blood ignites something within me."

Claire reached out and raised Alice's head with her fingers. Leaning in she kissed her gently, trying to convey her love for the older woman. When Jill cleared her throat she pulled away.

"The viruses have awakened your more basic animalist behavior and senses." Jill explained, "Think of yourself as a wolf and the people you are close to are your pack."

"And Claire would be my mate." Alice filled in. She'd started to suspect as much but was glad to have it confirmed.

Jill nodded and took a deep breath. This was where things could go wrong. "Your body has bonded with both of the viruses, Alice, and Claire's has started working with them in hers."

There was stunned silence for a moment where both parties sat stiffly before Alice hissed, "What?"

Claire looked at her lover. She could see the self blame and self hatred already gathering. She wrapped her arm around Alice and pulled her close, trying to calm her, anchor her, and reassure her all at once. Looking at Jill she demanded, "Explain."

"It took me a while to figure it all out." Jill admitted. "At first I thought you were just infected, but when Alice didn't sense it I became curious and started watching you closely. You showed no signs of turning or infection, and then I realized it was because your body was working with it and coexisting with it. The traces are so small that it will take a while for the changes to happen, but it will increase your strength, your speed, and your senses will sharpen plus your healing will increase."

"But where did it come from?" Claire asked almost desperate to understand. "I've never been bitten."

She was looking at Jill but the answer came from Alice, "Me." Alice said looking at her in a pained expression. "It came from me. You must have gotten my blood on you somehow. All it had to do was enter you through a cut or abrasion on your skin and it was in your blood stream. I'm to blame."

The raw pain and desperation in her voice jerked at Claire's heart and brought her jumbled thoughts back into focus. Yes, she was surprised and a little concerned but she didn't see this as a bad thing. It wasn't changing her into the undead. Her body was working with the virus and the changes that were to come could only be a good thing. She would be able to protect people more and more importantly right now, she would have more time with her lover, her mate.

She looked at Jill and the other woman got the hint. She quickly stood and left the room. Claire became aware of Alice's mumbles. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry Claire." She heard her lover repeating and was determined to put an end to it. She reached up and forced Alice to look at her.  
>Baby, stop it." She commanded, "This isn't your fault."<p>

"Didn't you hear what Jill said?" Alice bit out. "It's my blood in your veins. It's my blood that infected you. I'm sorry Claire. I'm so sorry. I'm not even supposed to be contagious. I wasn't supposed to be a risk to anyone."

Claire knew where this was headed and she wasn't going to allow Alice to leave. "No." she said sharply. "I'm the one that wiped your blood away and then touched my own bleeding head." She  
>told her lover. Not you, but me. Plus I'm not the only one that's had your blood on them" Claire reminded her. "Carlos carried you in the desert and he got your blood on himself too. He scratched his arms up pretty badly when he was trying to get that blowtorch working and you were bleeding while he carried you. He got your blood on him and he wasn't infected, so you aren't a risk to anyone."<p>

"But you're infected because of me." Alice all but whimpered. "I never wanted this to happen to you."

Alice, stop it." Claire said. Her voice was firm but soft. "I don't see this as a bad thing. Surprising yes, unplanned yes, but not bad. Increased strength, speed, healing, and a longer life with you? All of that is a good thing."

"But what about the others. They'll be afraid of you like they are of me."

Alice argued. "What about children? You would pass it on to them. What about…"

"Hold on." Claire cut her off. "You are getting ahead of yourself. First of all kids, where did that come from? And you know I don't care what others think. We'll keep it between the three of us and K-mart."

"Your brother will kill me if he finds out." Alice moaned.

"Let him try and I will skin him alive." Claire growled. "You are my lover and my partner. If he hurts you I'll hurt him"

Alice just looked at her in surprise. So maybe Claire was a little more aggressive than usual. "This really doesn't bother you?" She asked softly.

"No, baby, it doesn't bother me." Claire assured her. "I love you, Alice. Nothing is going to change that."

"I love you too, Claire." Alice reassured her. "But I'm still sorry for what's happened to yo)."

"I'm not." Claire stated with certainty, leaning in for a kiss. A contented sigh escaped from both as they kissed again and again. One of them parted her lips and lightly traced the other's lip with the tip of her tongue.

Claire shifted to sit on Alice's lap, straddling her thighs, as the brunette's hands slid under Claire's top. Alice trailed kisses down the redhead's throat, nuzzling her pulse point as she captured a full breast in her hand. Claire sucked in a quiet gasp when a thumb flicked across her hard nipple, sending shockwaves through her body that all seemed to terminate between her legs. The redhead lifted Alice's head so she could capture her lips in a passionate kiss. She took the brunette's hand in her own and guided it down between her legs.

"Touch me." She quietly implored.

Alice could feel the heat radiating from her lover. She gently cupped Claire and felt the material of her pants dampen as the redhead squirmed on her lap, pressing herself against Alice's hand but it wasn't enough. She needed to feel Claire without any barriers.

Alice moved her hand away, eliciting a whimper, but only long enough to unfasten the redhead's pants and slip her hand inside. Claire's breath hitched as nimble fingers explored her, touched her, and teased her. Her hips began moving of their own volition, seeking more pressure on all the right places. She gasped as a couple of fingers suddenly slid inside her. She clung to the brunette as every nerve ending in her body sang.

The brunette moaned at the sensation of her fingers buried inside Claire's wet heat. She pumped her fingers in and out of the redhead, using the heel of her hand to keep pressure where Claire needed it most. Claire's hips jerked in time with the thrusting of Alice's fingers until she threw back her head and moaned as her entire body convulsed. Alice gently cradled Claire's head to her  
>shoulder after the redhead's body collapsed following her orgasm.<p>

"God, that was incredible," Alice whispered and kissed Claire's shoulder. She could feel the redhead's lips smile against her neck.

She lowered her mouth to Alice's and kissed her gently and thoroughly. She deftly untied the drawstring on the brunette's pants and slipped her hand down through damp curls to find wet, swollen flesh. Already on the edge from their activities, Claire's skillful touch made Alice come after only a few seconds.

Claire withdrew her hand and brought her fingers to her lips, sucking them into her mouth and moaning at the exquisite taste. There was a fire in her eyes when she locked eyes with Alice. "More… I need more."

Pulling her lover up, Claire quickly stripped off her own clothes and then those of her lover. Kissing her quickly she pointed towards the couch and ordered. "Lay on your stomach."

Alice's eyes widened but she crawled to her knees and complied. When she turned away, Claire pushed her forward until she was on all fours, her arms and chest resting against arm of the couch. Kneeling behind her, she leaned heavily against her and began to scratch her nails down the brunette's back in long, smooth strokes. She did it softly at first, and then with increasing  
>pressure until she was leaving long red marks against the smooth bronze skin.<p>

Alice wiggled slightly in response and the feel of her firm buttocks against Claire's groin proved more than she could stand. Drawing her right hand back, she entered her lover from behind, closing her eyes at the feel of satin closing around her fingers, and at the sound of startled pleasure that escaped Alice's lips. She closed her left hand on the older woman's shoulder, pulling her backwards more forcefully to match her thrusts. She let her thumb stray upward, to play at the puckered opening of the woman's other orifice and when the tip of it entered slightly she heard a loud keening wail erupt from her lovers mouth. It rose in volume as she increased her tempo until her lover shook violently and then lay still. Claire removed her fingers gently, laying her body across Alice's back. They rested that way for a few moments until the older woman abruptly slid out from beneath her and stood. In one, smooth motion she picked her mate up and  
>carried her to their bed.<p>

Alice laid her out on the bed, crawling over her to hold herself up in all fours as she kissed her passionately. She left her lips to trail down her lover's neck, sucking at her pulse point hard enough to leave a red welt before moving down to her breasts. She took one thick, hardened nipple into her mouth, flicking it with her tongue, biting it gently. Then she moved to the other and gave it the same loving attention. She left her lover's breasts with both reluctance and anticipation, sliding her lips down over the flat tummy to nuzzle into the dark curls between her legs.

Claire's thighs fell open and she used her nose to part her folds, breathing in the scent of her eagerly. When she touched the tip of her tongue to the redhead's clit, the younger woman bucked slightly and Alice wrapped her arms around her thighs, holding them firmly as she lowered her body onto the bed.

She closed her eyes and suckled the small nub with rapt fascination, feeling Claire's fingers tighten almost painfully in her hair. She began to lap at her sex with long strokes until she found the particularly sensitive spot. Then she focused her attention there as her hand came up and she slid two fingers deep inside, moaning slightly as wet velvet closed around them and tightened  
>convulsively.<p>

She thrust slowly at first, pulling her hand back until she almost pulled out before gliding it back in. Each thrust was met by her mate's hips which were undulating wildly under her touch. Speeding up her movements, she heard her lover begin to grunt softly at each downward thrust and she sped up the tempo of her lips to match, a low vibration pulsing through her vocal cords as she continued her ministrations.

Claire closed her eyes, losing herself in the passion boiling up within her. Each movement of Alice's fingers and tongue pushed her closer to the edge until she was hanging on to her lover's head and shoulder as though her life depended on it. When her lover raised her other hand and closed her fingers around a swollen, aching nipple, she cried out loudly, singing her passion to  
>the room around her as the pleasure washed over her. "Oh…Alice."<p>

Her body went rigid, her hands released their hold as they began to tremble and for one brief moment she felt as though she were floating in an ocean of sensation. Then the wave slowly passed and she collapsed, tears filling her eyes and) flowing down her cheeks as Alice crawled up beside her and wrapped her up in her arms.

"Shh…Claire." Her lover's lips caught the tears on her face and kissed them away. "I'm here, baby. I love you."

Claire hugged the woman to her in a tight embrace. "I love you so much, Alice."

She brought her lips up to taste Alice's mouth, moaning when their tongues met, losing herself in the heat of the kiss. Her fingers seemed to move of their own accord, seeking out and finding a pebbled nipple, closing on it with a gentle fierceness that took her lover's breath away.

Alice brought her hands up to tangle in red locks, her whole body focused on the feel of the hands against her. "Claire… please..." She begged.

The young woman groaned and gave in to her lover's pleas as she felt one smooth thigh slip between her legs. She raised herself over Alice's body, settling the tender flesh between her legs more firmly onto the muscular thigh. She felt moisture flood the top of her knee where it rested at the apex of Alice's legs and groaned.

With wild abandon, she kissed her way down Alice's neck and across one elegant clavicle, trailing her lips down until they closed over a perfect nipple, sucking it into her mouth to graze her teeth over it roughly. She shifted slightly, bringing one hand up to her other nipple while her other hand slid down Alice's stomach to tangle in curls. Her lover whimpered as she parted her  
>folds and her fingers slid over the swollen ridge of her sex.<p>

"Baby." Claire whispered as her tongue and her fingers found a perfect rhythm and Alice began to grind her hips up and into her. After playing in the wetness for several minutes, she slid two fingers inside her lover, sighing at the sheer pleasure of the muscles tightening around them.

Leaving the perfect breasts behind, she slid down Alice's body, slipping her tongue into her lover's sex to flick at the swollen bundle of nerves before closing her lips around it. She could almost hear Alice biting her lip to keep from crying out, and the thought of her holding in her passion enflamed her even more.

She sped up the motion of her fingers, thrusting more heavily as her lover began to shake uncontrollably, her climax nearing. When it hit, the entire length of the long beautiful body went rigid, her hands flat on the sheets, toes curled tightly and Claire glanced up, chuckling softly when she saw Alice biting down on the her left hand. As the wave passed, she climbed back up to give her lover a passionate kiss, before resuming her position on Alice's raised thigh.

Reaching down, Alice slid her fingers inside Claire, using the leg as leverage as her mate thrust against her. She studied Claire's face as the woman rode her, losing herself in the look of ecstasy apparent in her features.

When Claire finally came, she buried her face in Alice's neck, biting down hard the pulse point to keep from crying out before collapsing heavily on top of her. Alice's eyes flew wide at the bite but she did nothing but pull Claire into her body. She knew her lover was simply proving the point that she was not afraid of Alice or her blood.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 11**

The two lovers laid there letting their bodies cool down from their previous activities, their sweat evaporating in the chill of the air coming through one of the open windows. Claire lay fully on top of her lover, listening to the strong heart beat and tracing random patterns on Alice's chest. Alice stared at her trying to picture what her life without the redhead would be like. She couldn't do it. She couldn't imagine living without the love and comfort she received from the younger woman.

The woman gave her and offered her so much. Claire gave her so much love, comfort, support, understanding, and acceptance. "Thank you." She said softly. She wasn't even aware the words left her lips until she felt Claire place a kiss on her chest and tilt her head up to meet Hazel eyes.

"For what?" The redhead asked softly, adjusting her body so their eyes met.

"For your trust." Alice said softly, "For your acceptance and your love. For never looking at me differently because I'm not human or running in fear from what I'm capable of. Lastly, for not cursing my name for what Jill told us earlier. Thank you... for everything."

"I love you, Alice." Claire said softy. "I will never look at you with anything but love in my eyes. Even when I'm angry at you, even when we fight or argue, the love will always be in my eyes."

"Do you really want to spend your life with me?" The brunette asked softly, reaching over to her bed side table where she had dropped a small bag when they first returned. Pulling what she needed out she continued. "My heart, body, and soul has chosen you as its mate and its partner for life, but I don't want you to feel pressured."

"I've told you before and I'll tell you again." Claire said with conviction. "And I'll keep saying it as often as you need to hear it. I love you. You are it for me. You have been the only one I wanted ever since the moment I met you and you will be the only one I love until I draw my last breath."

"Then do me a favor." Alice asked taking Claire's hand in hers. This wasn't how she had planned things and it wasn't when she thought it would happen, but after what they had learned she felt it was the right moment.

"Anything, baby." Claire assured her. "Just name it."

"Wear this ring for me." Alice said sliding a ring onto Claire's left ring finger. "Wear it and show the world that you're mine."

Claire gasped in surprised and looked down at her hand. On it was a simple silver Celtic wedding band. Nothing fancy, nothing huge, but the perfect ring for her. For them she amended. Looking back at her lover with tears forming in her eyes she demanded, "Where's yours?"

Alice smiled at her and offered her the second band. Claire took it and slid it on Alice's hand. Leaning in she kissed her new wife. "It's never leaving my hand. I want everyone to know I belong to you and you belong to me."

"So I take it you will marry me then?" Alice teased playfully.

"Consider it done, baby." Claire said rolling over, "You know we did things backwards" she teased Alice with another kiss.

"Oh." Alice said smiling at her. "How is that?"

"You're supposed to marry me first." Claire's eyes danced with mischief, "And then you're supposed to make love to your new wife."

Alice laughed easily. "Well then wife. I guess we need to have that wedding then." She leaned down and caught Claire's lips in a deep kiss that told of her love and devotion.

"No." Claire said breathless when they broke apart. She snuggled back into Alice's side. "I like things our way. I don't need a wedding baby, but I would like you to call me your wife in front of Luther and Chris and see what happens."

"Done." Alice agreed laughing hard. God, this had been one crazy day and it wasn't even over yet, still as she looked down at her lover…her new wife, she realized she wouldn't change a thing.

"Where did you get them?" Claire asked, causing Alice to look up from her task of checking her weapons. They'd rested for another hour or so after their…wedding ceremony, Alice supposed. They enjoyed the silence of their room, before they finally gave into the inevitable and drug themselves out of bed.

Alice looked over at the redhead and watched as she studied the band now adorning her left hand with a small smile gracing her lips. She still couldn't quite grasp the fact that as far as they were concerned, they were married. It had been so matter of fact and so simple, but nothing like how she had planned to propose when she decided to find the ring. She was planning to wait until they were settled and had the colony started before she brought it up. She was hoping that with the new colony would come a new way of life and that she could legally marry Claire in the way she couldn't have before the Apocalypse.

"Alice?" Claire's voice jerked her from her thoughts.

"Sorry." She said looking at Claire. "What were you asking?"

"Ummm… I was asking where you got us the rings." Claire smiled at her, moving to stand in front of the brunette and take her hands. "What were you thinking about?"

"You." Alice answered honestly. "Us, I planned to wait until we were settled in at the colony before asking you to marry me. I hoped that with our own…country so to speak we could make our own laws and I would be able to legally marry you, but last night just seemed like the right time."

"Last night was the perfect time, baby." Claire told her leaning up on her toes to kiss her wife gently. "With as uncertain as the future is now a days I'm glad you didn't wait." She told her as she pulled away. "But you still haven't told me where you got the rings?"

"Ummm…well I was at a mall yesterday." Alice smiled shyly. "And there was a jewelry store there." She shrugged and Claire just laughed.

"Come on." Claire said shaking her head. "I'm starving and you promised to irk Chris and Luther for me."

"I can do that." Alice followed her out, "Or we can wait and see how long it takes someone to notice and ask about them."

"My bet's on K-mart." Claire said, "I'll give her an hour at the most."

"Oh defiantly K-mart." Alice agreed, "But I give her thirty minutes."

As it turned out they were both wrong. They joined Jill, K-mart, Luther, and Chris at a table for dinner where the group was discussing their raid that morning and K-mart was entertaining them all by telling them of Alice's takedown of the group of zombies with rocks. They had been eating for maybe ten minutes when Jill suddenly reached over and grabbed Alice's left hand. "Is that what I think it is?" She asked, in disbelief.

K-mart looked at Alice's hand and then her eyes grew wide and shot down to Claire's. Her mouth dropped open and she pointed between the two women she considered her family several times before she squealed loudly, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room and causing Alice to groan. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"You proposed?" K-mart asked loudly.

"Yes, but it's not…" Alice tried to explain but K-mart cut her off again.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to propose?" The teen demanded.

"K, it's not that simple." Claire tried this time but Chris cut her off.

"You asked my baby sister to marry you and you didn't seek my permission first?" He glared at Alice.

"Why would she have to ask for your permission, Chris?" Claire glared at her brother. "Alice doesn't need anyone's permission but mine to marry me."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Jill cut the forming argument off. "What do you mean it's not that simple?" She suspected that she knew what they were talking about but wanted clarification. It would only make sense after their conversation that afternoon.

"Yes, Alice asked me to marry her." Claire told Jill, someone she now considered a friend. "And I said yes, but it's more than an engagement. We consider ourselves married." She looked around the room at the people watching them and happy to see that most of them were smiling at her.

"But what about a wedding?" K-mart asked, her teenage mind running wild with romantic possibilities.

"K, we're in the middle of the Apocalypse." Alice smiled at the teen, "Who's going to marry us? Even before the world ended our marriage wouldn't have been legal everywhere and now with the way things are…" She shrugged.

"Why would we wait, K." Claire picked up, "It makes us happy and we all have to grab a hold of what happiness we can find now a days because we never know what will happen next." Once again Claire caught most of the people smiling and nodded. Some had no reaction and Luther and Chris were scowling, but she really didn't care.

"But…but…but…" K-mart started to argue and then deflated, "oh alright. I understand what you are saying." She them beamed at the two and jumped up to throw her arms around Claire and Alice. "I'm so happy for you." She whispered to them.

"We need a party." K-mart declared suddenly pulling away and hurrying towards her friends, "Kim, Jessica, come on we have a party to plan."

"K!" Claire tried to call after her but it was too late.

"She's right, dear." Came a voice behind Alice and Claire causing them to turn around to find an older woman behind them, "Let them plan it. A party will do the people on this ship good and such a joyous moment should be celebrated."

"Thank you Alison," Claire smiled at the woman in her mid fifties. She was currently one of the oldest people on the ship. "But there is so much to get done and more important things to than a party."

"Nonsense." Alison waved her excuses away. "Two of the people leading us to safety and to a new home away from this horror filled world have been able to find happiness and love. That is something to celebrate. You let the young kids plan their party and let us old fogies keep them in check. You young people can handle all the hard stuff, deal?"

Alice snorted, "Personally I think you will have the harder job in keeping K-mart from going overboard."

Alison laughed, "That's probably true dear." She then looked back at Claire. "So what do you say?" Claire looked over at her lover who smiled at her and then she sighed and turned back to the older woman. "Alright, but you must promise me not to waste our supplies." The redhead told her, "We will need them for more important things."

"You leave it all to me, dear." Alison smiled at her and then she and her friends turned to go join K-mart and her group.

"Why am I not reassured." Claire mumbled causing both Jill and Alice to laugh.

"Oh I like her." Jill said regaining control and looking at Claire and Alice. The three women were well aware of the still pouting men at their table but chose to ignore them. "There's something I wanted to talk to you two about before we got sidetracked."

"Alright, shoot." Alice told Jill. "What is it?"

"Have you two given any thought to how the colony should be run once it is established?" Jill asked.

"Sure." Claire said turning back to her cooling food. "We've discussed putting together a council to oversee the colony and help establish laws."

"Alright." Jill nodded in agreement, "May I suggest you go ahead and put it together?"

"Why would we do that?" Luther asked jumping into the conversation. "It would just confuse the chain of command right now."

Jill rolled her eyes at the man and turned back to the two women. "Put it together and allow them to start working on establishing the colonies foundation. It'll be good to have some semblance of order when we arrive and might help move things along quickly."

"I can see that." Claire agreed, "And you are probably right. The question is who should lead it?"

"Alison." Alice said, causing the other two women to look at her. "I think we should place some of the older people on the council. It would give them something to do and make them feel useful. I suspect that's why Alison was so ready to help plan a party."

"I think it should be from our generation." Luther tried again and Chris nodded. "I would be happy to lead it. We could…"

"No." Both Claire and Alice said together before Alice added, "Our generation will be the ones building the houses, clearing the land, planting the crops. We will be the ones responsible for the security of the colony. It's up to the older generation to lead it."

She could see that both men understood what she was saying, but she didn't wait for a reply. Instead she turned back to Claire and Jill. "Alison should lead it. She might have other suggestions, but I think Steve, Tom, John, Anne and Susan should join her."

"It gives a nice balance between our original group and the new comers." Claire said nodding, "And all of them have shown themselves to be opened minded and fair."

"Plus they all support you and none of them have shown any fear of me." Alice added in an undertone. "That's a good thing." Claire nodded in agreement.

"Let's go talk to her then and see if we can get it started." Claire suggested, "No point in waiting and the more time they have the better."

They started to pick up their empty trays but Jill waved them off. "I'll get them."

"Thanks." Alice smiled at her and then the two headed for the corner the group of party planners had congregated in. As they approached the whole group stopped talking and Alice had to fight the desire to roll her eyes.

Claire just smiled at them all before turning to their target. "Alison, would you mind taking a walk with us. There's something we would like to discuss with you."

"Sure thing dears." She smiled at the two young women and looked back at the teens. "Now you keep in mind what I said while you plan and we will talk about it more in the morning."

"Yes, Ma'am." Came the immediate reply causing Claire to raise an eyebrow and smile.

The three women walked silently for several long minutes until they found themselves in one of the empty lounges. Taking a seat around one of the tables, Alison was the first to speak. "Now, why don't you two tell me what's on your mind."

Claire smiled at the older woman, who she liked a lot. She had been one of the first people to come up to them and thank the two women for saving them. She had pulled Claire into a tight hug and then pulled Alice into one without ever batting an eye and she never commented on how stiff the young brunette was in her arms as she just whispered 'thank you', before walking away. The fact that the older woman had shown no fear of her lover had endeared her to the redhead.

"We've been planning for the colony." Claire told her. "As I'm sure you know we've been focusing on the logistics of the plan. The supplies, the security, that type of thing."

Alison nodded at the leader. "And you two have been doing a fine job." She told them.

Claire smiled at her, "What we haven't been able to plan for is the running of the colony. The rules, the laws, the colonies future."

"I can understand that." Alison said quietly. "We have to get there first before we can do anything else."

"That's true." Claire agreed, "But there is a problem with that. When we get there we won't have time to deal with any of that. Alice and Jill will be busy overseeing the security of the island and readying us for when Umbrella finally show themselves again. I'm going to be busy overseeing the building and other work projects. Neither of us will have time to lay the foundation of the colony. That's where you come in."

"What is it that you need me to do?" Alison asked curious. She knew the two women in front of her were the heart of the group. Claire was their leader and she was a fine one at that. She was strong, confident, and had a magnetic personality. Anyone knew she would lay her life on the line for their survival and the completion of the mission.

Alice was more of a mystery. She was quiet and reserved. It was obvious to the older woman that she did not like physical contact unless it came from the redhead next to her or probably K-mart. It was also obvious to Alison that she wasn't quite human. With her abilities, her strength, and her speed, she had to be something more than human. But the love she showed for the redhead and vise versa were the best parts that humanity had to offer. Alison expected that Claire kept the brunette grounded and in touch with her humanity.

"We are putting together a council." Claire's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "They will be in charge with putting the colony's foundation together. They'll be responsible for creating our laws, seeing to our future and we want you to lead it."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 12**

Alison sat there stunned for several long minutes before she leaned back in her chair. "I see." She looked at the two young women before her. "And why me?"

"Because you're fair." Claire said immediately. "You're honest, smart, and you understand and support what we are trying to accomplish and…"

"And what, dear?" The older woman said softly sensing Claire's reluctance to answer her.

"You do not fear me." Alice said in brutal honesty pulling the attention her. "So many people fear me for what I am that life is already difficult enough, but if someone was leading the council who was afraid of me, it would make our jobs that much more difficult."

Alison studied the brunette before her, watching silently as Claire reached out to take her wife's hand. "Yes." She agreed softly, "Yes, I suppose it would." Looking between them she nodded, "Who else were you thinking of putting on the council?"

"So far we've decided on Steve, Tom, John, Anne and Susan." Claire answered, "Unless you have any better suggestions."

"No, those are fine choices." Alison admitted, "They are all fair, understanding, and intelligent. They work well together which is a plus." She looked at the two young women for another moment. "Alright, I'll do it on two conditions."

"Such as?" Claire asked.

"One, that you allow us the time to lay out things as we think are best before we meet again and discuss them." Alison smiled at her. "Let us old people work our magic and then you young ones will have your say."

"Alright." Claire agreed with a laugh. "And the second condition?"

"That you and Alice remain on the council as advisors." She said and when the two women opened their mouths to argue she held up a hand. "You are the leader, Claire. These people follow you. You can't just get us there and then say 'Alright, someone else can take over now.' They need to see that you are still invested in their future and still working for them." She then looked at Alice. "And you are the only one capable of protecting us from Umbrella if they should find us again. While some people still fear you they also trust you to protect them where they can't protect themselves. The council will need someone to advise them on the best way to secure our new home."

Claire and Alice looked at each other. Judging the other's reactions and desires before nodding, "Alright." Claire agreed, "We'll stay as advisors.

"Good." Alison said clapping her hands together. "Now that that is settled, walk this old lady back to the chow hall so I can start talking to my fellow council members. You two leave everything up to me and you can go plan our next raid or something."

The young women looked at each other in amusement before answering, "Yes, Ma'am."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Fuck...that's not going to happen." Alice groaned a few days later as she scanned the docks of Los Angeles with her binoculars. She turned to look at her wife. Claire's face was set in a serious mask as she exchanged looks with Alice.

Nodding once she turned to her brother. "Get Jill, Luther, and the council up here. We have a serious problem."

For once Chris didn't question the orders or make a comment. He just nodded his head and spun on his heals running from the room. Turning back to her lover the redhead asked, "What are we going to do? We can't go in there and that's going to mess with our plans."

Alice just shook her head and turned back to the window thinking hard while she waited for the rest of their group to arrive. Claire stood next to her and slid her arm around Alice's waist, offering her silent support as she too stared out at the masses of undead swarming the docks.

"I thought they were all moving inward?" Chris asked as he took the last seat.

"They were." Alice told him, "but these followed us from the prison and it will take years for them to move on like the rest."

"So now what?" one of the council members asked. Alice knew that they'd spent the majority of the last few days sequestered in one of their rooms hammering out the finer details on the colony. She hadn't seen much of them except at the party K-mart threw for her and Claire last night. Alison had spoken with her briefly to tell her things were going well and that they'd be ready to meet with her and Claire in a week.

"We move on to San Francisco." Claire told them. "We don't have a choice. We can't go in there."

"Can't you take them out, Alice?" Luther asked. "I mean you're the one with all the cool super powers." He was still a little bitter about the two women's marriage, but he was slowly getting over it.

"I could." Alice agreed and Claire turned to frown at her lover, "But it would leave me out cold for at least a day or so. My body is still adjusting to the new level of energy it takes to use my, 'super powers.'" She smirked at the ex-basketball player. "I would be unable to help any of the people if they ran into trouble."

"It's not going to happen." Claire said at once causing others to smile."Claire's right." Alison said from her spot at the table. "We need Alice to help protect the raiders."

Claire smiled at the older woman and looked at Tom and Anne. Even though they had been spending the majority of their time with the council she knew they were still receiving updates on the status of their supplies. "What do we have to have? Absolutely have to have before we sail to the island. The bare minimum."

Anne closed her eyes in thought for a long moment before sighing and opening them to lock on the leaders. "We need more tools and building supplies. I was talking to some of the survivors with construction experience and we won't have enough to build all the houses and other buildings that we might need." Claire nodded in understanding.

"What else?" She asked making mental notes.

"We have plenty of pre-made clothes, but I think we need more fabrics and cloth." Anne said. "According to what Alice tells me there are very few animals on the island, if any of that's coat could be used to make clothes, sheets, and other necessary materials. We really need more. And even though we are well stocked on food stores it wouldn't hurt to get more, especially more bottled water if we can find it. We can't ever be too careful."

"Great so all we need is to find are hardware, household goods, and a food supply store and we'll be set." Claire sighed.

In addition to those we should also hit a fabric store I have in mind." Alison said "Would that work?"

"What do you mean?" Jill asked

"I was born and raised in San Francisco, dear." Alison smiled, "I know the city like the back of my hand."

"Were you there when the virus hit?" Alice asked in interest. When Alison nodded she asked softly, "Tell me about it please. I need to know what the city might be like now."

Alison swallowed hard and nodded. "The first attacks happened on the north side of the city, near the Golden Gate Bridge and moved south. The people had seen the rest of the country destroy its self so when it hit people fled and headed south or east over the bridge, which was until the army destroyed the bridges and then they just headed south. My group…my group was trapped on Treasure Island, but that kept us relatively safe for a few years. Then the supplies started to run low."

She shook her head to clear the painful memories. "That's when we picked up the transmission from the Arcadia and replied in return. We thought we were being saved, but instead…" She had no need to finish; they all knew what had happened.

"What about these stores?" Alice asked after giving her a few moments of silence. "Where are they? Do you think they were raided?"

"I doubt it." She said. "They are all on the North East side of the city. Close to Jackson square. The first attacks happened on Lombard Street so everyone just left after that. From what we heard over the radio and scanners most of the looting was in the south part of the city."

"What about the dock areas?" Claire asked.

"That's going to be a problem." Alison told them. "Your best bet to find transport vehicles is the port or Warf area. That's in the bay. I'm not sure if this ship can make it in that far, then there's all the debris from the bridge." She shook her head so Alice turned to look at Jason.

"I think we should be alright." He said. "It will be close, but as long as the debris isn't too bad, we'll be able to make it in."

"We'll be able to make it back out if we get half way in and find out it's bad?" Claire asked.  
>Jason nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."<p>

"Very well." Claire said. "Set sails towards San Francisco and pray that we can find what we need there."

"There's something else you might want to consider, if you haven't already." Alison spoke up and when she had everyone's attention she continued. "Where is everyone going to sleep while we are building the colony? They can't stay here because we'll take everything we can from the rooms and the ship for the colony."

"What do you suggest?" Claire asked. They'd been discussing that problem but had yet to come up with a solution.

"If memory serves both of your groups brought several dozen tents, tarps, and sleeping bags from the last raid." She smiled at them. "Not too far from the other stores is a large outdoor adventure store. We could find all types of outdoor housing gear that could be set up as a makeshift colony while we're working on ours. The weather should be pleasant enough."

"So two teams and two stores per team?" Alice pondered. "That could work."

"If there were enough trucks could we put together two more teams and hit all the stores at once?" Chris suggested but Alice shook her head.

"It's too dangerous." She told him. "We only have two helicopters and there are only two of us who can sense the virus." Claire's brother just nodded in agreement. "But we might be looking at too days."

"I really don't want to stay in the port that long." Claire said. "It's not safe."

"What if we take two trucks with each team?" Chris suggested. "If there are enough working trucks, that is. Just add five or so people to each group and after the first store those five can transport the truck back and the rest of the group can go to their next store."

"That could work." Alice agreed. "The helicopters would have to play double duty and watch both trucks at once, but we're talking about a small enough area." She looked at Jill. "What do you think?"

"If the trucks are there, that would work." She agreed. "Send one group to hit the hardware and fabric stores and the other to hit the food and outdoor stores."

"Make the hardware and food stores the first stops." Claire told them. "Just in case."

"Alright, assuming we can find enough trucks, we'll go with Chris' idea." Alice agreed and then looked around. "Since we're all here I have something else I want to bring up."

When Claire nodded she continued, "We have at least 4 days to reach San Francisco and a week or so to the island from there. I think we need to gather anyone with engineering and construction experience and get them started on planning the layout of the colony."

"But how can we do that without knowing what the island's geography is?" John asked.

"I can tell them what it was like three years before the outbreak." Alice told them.

"How would you know what it was like then?" Luther asked. "It's been longer than that since you would've been there for college."

"Let's just say I know and leave it at that, Luther." Alice said and when he opened his mouth to argue she glared at him until he was silent but when she caught Claire and the others looking at her in curiosity she sighed, "If you must know I was looking at buying the damn thing." She snapped out.

"What?" Came the response from all of the people around the room.

"I was there surveying the island to look at buying it." Alice sighed and looked at her wife pleadingly. "I told you Umbrella paid well and I wanted to take the money and buy the island. I was going to turn it into a safe haven in case Umbrella ever caught on to what we were up to." Claire just smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

Changing the subject she said, "K-mart's still got the list of what everyone's skills are. If you can draw up a rough sketch of the layout of the island I can get it from her and get the people together. We can meet with them this evening and get them started."

"But the question is, get them started with what?" Alice looked around. "What I'm asking is how are we going to distribute the housing? We have over two thousand people on board. And out of that very few of them have family connection, and many of the children are effectively on their own. So how many houses do we need and how do we determine who lives with whom?"

When no one gave any opinions Alice spoke up again. "I don't suppose anyone here is familiar with ancient Greek history and the legend of the Amazons?"

When they all shot her looks she chuckled, "I'll take that as a no. The Amazons were ancient Greek warriors, tribes of women warriors."

"You mean like Xena?" Luther supplied and she shot him another look to silence him. "They had a very communal organization." She tried to explain her thought process. "The children basically belonged to the tribe and were cared for and raised by the tribe. It's similar to what you would have found in some of the African Tribes."

"Your point please, Professor Abernathy." Claire cut her off making Alice smirk at her. "They had two different ways of housing their people. The bonded pairs lived together with their extended families. For example, Claire and I would live in the same house with K-mart and Chris. If at some point Chris married he and his wife would have the choice to stay with us or build their own house. I was thinking something similar for the adults. House three or four single adults in one house and then when the time comes and they pair off we could build a new house."

"Keep the area that we are settling small and build outward as need." Claire summarized. "It would make the areas that we have to protect smaller instead of having two thousand houses or so."

Alice nodded. "We would eventually grow but it would serve to get everyone under a roof a little more quickly and then we could just build new houses as they were needed."

"What about the kids?" Susan asked. "We can't put them in houses alone and at the last count we had almost six hundred kids under the age of sixteen."

"The Amazon's had an answer for that as well." Alice smiled. "They had communal huts where they would house all of the children under a certain age together and what would translate to house mothers who lived with them and were responsible for them during the night." She could see the idea springing up in the other's heads.

"We could build several of these as we see fit and house the children who don't have any families here." Claire added for her lover. "Get volunteers to take care of them at night and during the day they become the responsibility of the whole community."

Alice nodded, "And once again when they reach adulthood, whatever age we set that at, they can move out and into one of the houses."

"Ok, but what about children?" Jill asked. "New born children. Surely you don't expect parents to allow their own children to live in communal housing?"

Claire shook her head, "No, but the idea is to find a house for everyone and quickly. Think of it this way. We start off with a very ancient way of doing things, but as people marry and start to have children we will slowly go back to the modern way people have been living. Eventually I would bet that there would be a house for every family or at least every two."

Alice nodded her head in agreement with her wife. "Our youngest kids are five right now, so if the legal age of adult hood is sixteen then in 11 years the communal houses will be empty and we can turn them into something else."

"In principle the idea is sound." Chris agreed, "But I see a problem with us running out of supplies while trying to build all of those houses."

"Well it could be that we maintain the communal houses as dorms for single adults by then. Who knows?" Alice shrugged, "We will just have to see how things work best for us as we grow and continue on, but the important thing is to be able to lay out a starting place and make sure everyone is given a place to live."

"Alright." Claire said standing up and stretching, "Enough of this for now. Alice and I will get with those who have the skills we need tonight and we'll see what they come up with. Until then Alice and I have watch duty, so if there is nothing else..."

The others gathered took the hint and started leaving one by one. Eventually it was just down to Jason at the helm and Claire and Alice on watch with Jill who had stuck around to talk to the pair.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 13**

Alice woke the morning of the raid a good hour before she and Claire needed to be up. She had noticed lately that both she and Claire were requiring less sleep and they were both usually awake and ready to start their day by sunrise. Therefore, being up this early wasn't a surprise to her, but it didn't stop her from pulling her wife closer into her body and enjoying the next hour laying there with the redhead's naked flesh resting against hers.

As she lay there with her wife in her arms she couldn't help but say a silent prayer to whatever divine deity had been watching over them for the last few weeks that they would once again be able to escape this day without harm and with the supplies they needed. They just had one more trip and one more day on the mainland and then they could set sail for their new home, where with any luck and a lot of hard work, they would be able to live without fear of the infection. She felt bad that they hadn't actively been looking for other survivors, or broadcasting their message, but after talking it over with the others they determined that until the current people on the ship were settled somewhere it wouldn't be safe to bring anyone else on board.

They had decided that once the colonists were settled and had made a good start on building they would revisit the idea of sailing around to look for more survivors. A few of the younger men had already approached Claire about the idea of trying to find a second ship and using them both. She'd promised them that once things were settled they would discuss it.

Eventually Alice decided that it was time to get up. She carefully extracted herself from her lover before silently getting up off the bed. She decided that she would allow her wife to sleep for a few extra minutes and take her shower first. However, her departure must have woke the redhead up, because as Alice was washing Claire silently slipped into the shower. Reaching up and wrapping her hand around the back of Alice's head she pulled the tall brunette down to meet her mouth in a deep kiss. She didn't say a word as she finally released Alice; instead she turned her attention to finishing the shower as quickly as possible. Alice smiled widely as she followed her lover's example.

They dressed in silence and Alice was just reaching for the first of her weapons when Claire wrapped her arms around her wife's waist and buried her face in her chest. Alice wrapped her arms around her lover and pulled her close, "Just one more day baby." She said softly knowing what was bothering the redhead. "By tonight we will be out in open waters heading for our new home.

Claire pulled back and looked up at the brunette. "I know." She said with a small smile, "Just promise me you'll be careful out there." Claire pleaded with her.

"I promise I'll be careful." Alice promised kissing her gently. "I'll be as careful as I can be and tonight we can celebrate our success."

"Alright." Claire said trying to smile at her. "I don't know what's making me so anxious about this but come on, the sooner we get this started the sooner we're finished."

Alice just nodded at her wife and followed her out. She knew that nothing she could say would take away her worries and fears of the trip to come. Their first stop was to the chow hall were they both grabbed a quick bite and then to the bridge to check on their progress into port.

Jason smiled at them as they entered and nodded towards the windows. Taking a look they could make out the waters ahead and see that they were rounding the port and approaching the bay.

"So far so good." He told them. "There are a few scattered ships about, but I can get around them. I'm going to try and put in at the docks used for the cruise ships."

Alice closed her eyes and tried to sense any undead, frowning at what she felt. Opening her eyes she looked over at her lover who still looked more agitated then normal for this type of mission. Alice shook her head at her own stupidity and beckoned Claire closer. "I think I know why you are so restless." She told her in a whisper so that the captain wouldn't hear. "I think you are starting to develop some of those abilities we talked about. I already noticed your aggression has increased some and now I think your senses are picking up."

"What does that have to do with me being jumpy?" Claire asked in a whisper.

"You are sensing undead." Alice said softly. "These ships that we are passing are full of undead."

"How do you know it's them?" Claire asked her, trying to understand. It would help greatly to be able to sense them she realized, even as she secretly hoped that after today she wouldn't have too.

"It's hard to explain." Alice said. "I think of it as a chill that goes up my spine. It's just a feeling that makes me jumpy, agitated if I focus on it too long."

"Like a sixth sense?" Claire asked and while Alice nodded she asked, "You've said before that you can smell the undead and their blood. What does it smell like?"

"Would you hit me if I said it smells like death?" When Claire shot her an exasperated look she shrugged, "It's true. I guess you could use the word rank. Trust me you will know when you smell it. Live human blood smells sweet to the undead, it's what attracts them."

Claire nodded in understanding and then asked in a whisper, "What does my blood smell like to you?"

Alice looked at her but all she saw was honest curiosity. "It's strong, sweet, and it's heaven." She admitted quietly. "I can't explain it better than that."

Claire nodded and smiled at her before turning to look at Jason. "Stay clear of the ships. They are crawling with undead." When he looked worried she added, "Just don't get close and they won't be able to get to us." He nodded in understanding.

"I want extra guards posted on the deck." Claire told Alice. "I want them watching those ships closely."

"Alright, I'll talk to Chris before we leave in the Osprey." Alice agreed. "Why don't you go do your pre-flight and I'll find him. I'll join you shortly." Claire just nodded in agreement and the two women went their separate ways.

~~~~~~~  
>Their trip in the air showed the same results as before. The majority of the undead had moved or was moving out of the city. In this case the majority of them were moving southwards. The inspection of the dock area showed the same results. There were trucks scattered everywhere, but this time Jill and Alice detected a few undead.<p>

Alice left Jill in charge of securing the trucks while Chris secured the docks and posted the two guards as before. She and Claire made their way around the immediate area and silently took out a dozen random undead. As they approached Chris and Jill she said, "There might be more further out, but the immediate areas are clean. We also know that there are undead on the ships so keep a close eye out for them. If you come across any take them out as quietly as possible but don't get close. The noise might draw more, but I don't want anyone getting blood on them."

Jill smiled at her. "I'm ahead of you, Alice. I issued silencers for all primary weapons. I'm not taking any chances this time around."

"That's good." Alice said, "But it does mean that there won't be any noise to alert the rest of us as well, so make sure your teams know to use their comms." When they nodded in agreement she looked at Jill. "Did we make out alright with the trucks?"

"Yeah." Jill said, "Not as much gas as before, so use it sparingly. We took what we could from other trucks, but this is all we've got. We need to save what's in the tanks to refill the Osprey during the day."

"Okay. So the trucks with the less fuel go to the closest stores." Claire told them. "I want to be out in the open water by dark, so split the time as you see fit, but make sure you are back here by 4 this afternoon. It will give us time to unload the last trucks and get the hell out of dodge."

"So which do you want?" Alice asked Jill.

"I'll take the hardware and the fabric stores." Jill said with a shrug. "I've got some of the contractors and engineers in my group, so they will be able to help decide what we need to get first."

"Sounds good." Alice nodded. "I wanted to go to the outdoor store as well. I'm hoping we can find some more weapons there. I'm especially interested in finding reusable weapons for hunting."

"Girls and their toys…girls and their toys." Claire mumbled shaking her head at her lover causing Jill and Alice to smirk at her. "Come on let's get this thing going."

Alice nodded and tapped the earwig, **Load it up. **She ordered the groups and immediately they began piling into trucks.

**How does it look from up there Claire? **Alice asked as they pulled up to the Supermarket.

**It looks good to me.** Claire told her. **The closest group of undead I see is a good mile away. **

**Copy that.** Alice responded. **We are pulling around back and parking at the loading dock.**

Alice looked at the loading dock they were approaching and grinned. She loved this kind. Once it was parked a good third of the truck would be inside the store. That would make protecting it easier. "Don't back all the way up yet." She told Frank who was driving. "Stay put in the truck. I'm going to take the team and sweep the store first."

Frank nodded in understanding so Alice jumped out of the cab and made her way to where the second truck was parked. They had placed all of their security people in the second truck so she raised the door and let them out. "Form a perimeter around the truck." She told the first ones out indicating the other transport vehicle. "There are a few undead somewhere close, but Claire can't see anything so I think they're inside. I don't sense anything big so I would guess there's only a few. Move in with a sweeping pattern just like the mall. Once it's clear I want lookouts posted at every window and every door."

"Yes, Ma'am." Came their automatic response as they did as they were told. It took them half an hour to clear the store and in the end they'd killed seven undead that they found locked in one of the back freezers. Alice simply ordered the room to be sealed again and then gave the all clear.

**Frank it's clear**. She said over the earwigs. **Back the truck up to the dock and I'll meet you there.**

**Copy that.** Frank answered as Alice moved towards the back of the store. She was pleased to see the group already standing at their positions around the room.

She opened the door on the back of the truck and dropped the ramp allowing the ATV's out first. "You're going to have to stick to the end aisles guys." She told them as they traveled down and out into the store. Turning to address the disembarking group she told them. "I want one group to focus on what we can take from back here in storage and then I want another group to clear out all the water and canned food from inside. Once that's on board you can start with anything else you think we might need." Checking her watch she told them. "It's almost 8:00am now. We need to leave here by 11:30am so keep an eye on your time."

The group nodded and quickly hurried about their duties. Walking back out into the store she could see the people already gathering supplies. Some were pushing carts up and down the aisle as they dumped anything in that they could use. Others were being followed by one of the ATV's and dumping their gathered supplies into the trailer.

She was glad to see that there were still plenty of bottled water and canned foods left. She knew that the island would provide for them eventually but it made her feel better to have more than enough supplies instead of taking the risk of running low. As she made continual security sweeps for any undead that she might have missed she scouted what was still on the shelves. If she found an area that she wanted cleared she would radio Frank and tell him to send a group to that section. She knew that they were heading for the outdoor retailer next but she made sure to have them clear out the sports section of all the camping and fishing supplies they could.

Sleeping and hunting gear, cooking and storage equipment, plus lighting all went into the truck. She also had some of the younger members of her group clear out the sporting and athletics gear. She figured They weren't exactly necessary supplies, but she wanted to be able to give the people things to keep them entertained. She also sent someone to gather all of the batteries that they could find in the store. She knew they had a lot of equipment that operated on batteries so she figured it was best to stock up. She also sent a group to the pharmacy to take what they could from there.

**Alice, do you copy?** She heard Frank call as she made her way through the electronics section. She figured K-mart's friends had gotten enough in the last raid, but she did pick up a solar powered charger for the kid that could be used to charge the iPod and laptop she knew the teen kept carrying even if the battery had long ago run out.

**Go ahead Frank.** She answered the man.

**We've got all the required supplies on the truck and I've got a group finishing up with the sections you requested.** He told her. **There are a few groups that want to get some supplies from the housing section. They said that there are plenty of sheets, pillows, comforters and that type of thing left.**

Alice took a look at her watch. They had made better time than she thought and they still had 45 minutes before they needed to leave. **Tell them to go ahead, Frank. We've got half an hour before we need to start loading the people into the truck to move on.**

**Copy that.** Alice heard. Taking a moment to think about it she smiled to herself and made her way over to that section in question. Walking down the aisles and watching the others gather supplies she smiled to herself when she found what she was looking for. She knew that she couldn't give Claire everything she deserved or even everything she would have been able to before the Apocalypse but she was determined to give her what she could.

She had talked to the architects, engineers, and construction workers who were in charge of designing their new village and made certain arrangements for their home. She also made sure that they would pull the queen size bed from their quarters on the ship and have it moved to their new home. It would have to be taken apart first and then reconstructed but the group happily agreed to do so. Now she slipped some of nicest sheets she could find into her own bag that she carried. She figured she could at least give her wife this little and completely hedonist surprise.

She was just locking the doors when she heard Jill's call over the comms. **We are finishing up here Alice and sending the first truck back to the docks. ETA on departure is twenty minutes.**

**Copy that. Stand by.** Alice told her and then looked at Kevin who was going to be taking the full truck back to the docks. "How are you on fuel?" She asked. "Can you meet up with the other truck first?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He nodded.

**Claire this is Alice, how's your fuel supply?** She asked her lover.

**I'm good, Alice.** Claire's voice replied. **What do you have planned?**

**I want to send my truck to meet up with Jill's.** Alice told her. **That way Josh can follow them both back and you can watch us, but it would mean you wouldn't be able to fill up.**

**I'm good for now.** Claire agreed, **Go for it. **

**Did you copy that Jill?** Alice asked.

**I copied and we'll be waiting when they get here.** Jill responded. **And then we will move on.**

**They're in route now.** Alice told her and nodded at Kevin. "Go meet up with the team too and return to the docks together."

"Yes, ma'am." Kevin said. "Ya'll be careful."

Alice watched the truck pull away before she joined the rest of her crew in the second truck and without a word Frank drove them to their next location. They killed off a few more undead there and then took their time in raiding the store. After Alice had sent most of the groups to work, she ordered two groups and one of the ATV's to follow her as she made her way to the back of the store where all the weapons were housed. Studying what she had she was presently surprised. Not only did she find a wide range of hand guns, shot guns, and rifles she also found plenty of knives and ammo. "I want all of this in the truck." She told them and then turned to four women in their mid twenties. "You two are with me."

Moving over to the other side she started examining all of the bows and arrows that were available. There were compound bows, simple bows, cross bows, different types of arrows and bolts. "Load it all up." She told them. "Take every bow and arrow to the truck."

She smiled at their awed looks and couldn't wait to see what Claire had to say about what they'd found.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Chapter 14**

Jill, do you copy? Alice called over the earwigs.

**I'm here, Alice. What's up?** Jill asked after a while.

**I have one thing to say to you Valentine.** Alice's amusement was clear in her voice.

**What's that, Abernathy?** Jill's curiosity was clear.

J**ackpot**. Alice told her friend and the silence that followed made her think that her blonde friend was trying to figure out what that meant.

After a few minutes she heard the blonde come back over the comms. **Really, how big?**

Her excitement was clear in her voice and it caused Claire and K-mart to exchange a confused look. "I have no idea." Claire answered K-mart's unanswered question.

**Huge**. They heard Alice reply and K-mart just shook her head, "Your wife is really weird at times." She told Claire. "How in the world do you put up with her?"

"She's beautiful, loving, and the sex is fantastic." Claire shrugged and smirked when the young blonde winced. "You asked. So what bothers you about that answer, the fact that it's two adults having sex, or two women?"

"Neither." K-mart told her, "It's the fact that I think of you two as my family That's a bad mental image."

Claire laughed at the teen and the two continued to chat as they kept their lookout going until they were signaled by both trucks to return to the ship. By the time that Claire had refueled the Osprey and docked in the hanger bay the crew were halfway done unloading Jill's second truck and they still had Alice's to go. She made her way back to the loading ramp where Jill and Alice were in the same positions as the week before. They were silently watching the group work and making sure that none of the crew had come back infected. She leaned against the railing and looked at her wife. "Jackpot?" She asked quietly.

Alice smiled at her. "You'll see as soon as they start unloading my truck." She smiled wider at her lover's frown and asked, "How are we on the time?"

"We're pushing it, but I think we'll make it alright." Claire told her. "It took them longer than they thought to unload the first trucks and Anne says that she's running out of storage room. I told them to start filling some of the unused corridors and the lower rooms if they have too. We might have to reassign housing for the trip and put some people on floors or couches."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Alice agreed, "It's going to make the trip to the island cramped but I don't see any other option. We can pull out some of the sleeping bags if we have to and put them on the floor in the chow hall and K-mart can move into our room and sleep on the couch. That would free up one room we could put more people in."

"I've already suggested that." Claire told her, "But she said she would rather bunk up elsewhere and let us have our privacy."

"Alright." Alice nodded. "It's her call." She watched as the last little bit was removed from Jill's truck and moved out of the way to make room for hers. "How did we make out on tools and building supplies?"

"As good as we could." Claire told her. I ran into William and he was looking over what we had and what we brought back. It's going to be tight, but there's nothing else for it. We might have to send out another raiding party at some point, but we should be able to complete all of our originally planned projects."

Claire turned to look as the door of the truck was raised and she felt her jaw drop in awe. "Holy fucking hell." She said as she saw all the weapons piled up on the back end of the truck bed. "You weren't kidding were you?" Alice just smirked at her. "Bows and arrows, really Alice? Why the fishing rods and tackle?" She asked as she spotted one of the deep sea fishing rods on the top.

"Hunting and fishing baby." Alice smiled at her, "The island has deer, wild boar, and other animals that can be killed with a bow and arrow. Then the arrows can be cleaned and reused and we save on the ammo."

Claire just nodded in shocked understanding but then asked, "Can you even shoot a bow and arrow?"

"Why of course I can." Alice smiled at her. "I have many talents, baby. Haven't you figured that out by now? I'm not the only one. Jill and I are already making plans to teach some of the teenagers how to hunt and fish. I figure it'll be a good way for them to contribute."

"What other animals are on the island?" Claire asked in interest, realizing they have never really discussed it. "I know there aren't sheep or anything that give off wool because Anne wanted more cloth."

"As for large game and food producing animals." Alice said, "It's kind of strange the mixture of animals we found last time. There were no signs of previous habitation, but they had to come from somewhere. We kind of thought that maybe a ship carrying people and animals for colonization sank and some of the animals managed to make it ashore and then repopulate from there. There are wild boar, pigs, deer, chicken, geese, and ducks. Then of course all the fish in the ocean."

"What about poisonous or dangerous animals?" Claire asked as they continued to watch them unload.

"Some snakes and spiders there are poisonous." Alice told her, "But I can make sure everyone is aware of what to look out for. There are some plants that are dangerous if eaten, and then of course some of the sea life is dangerous."

"How do you know all this?" Claire asked in awe.

"I told you I was looking at it to set up as an escape." Alice shrugged, "I took people with me that could educate me on what was there."

Claire couldn't help but be amazed at how meticulous her wife was when she put her mind to something. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised, but as she watched the survivors unload tent after tent, some small two man tents, some large ten to twelve man ones, and some the size of small storage sheds, she still found that she was.

Claire reached back and placed a loving hand on Alice's back and used the contact to show her support and love for her wife. It was getting very close to sun set when they waved the last person on the ship. Jill, Alice and Claire then joined them before immediately going to the wheelhouse as Luther and Chris raised the boarding ramp. "Get us out of here, Jason." Claire ordered as she entered the room.

"I would be more than happy to, ma'am." Frank told her, as he set about doing just that. It took them several long intense minutes to get the ship turned around and then they all waited as they made their way slowly out of the bay and into the open waters. Once they were clear of land on all sides, all four people breathed a sigh of relief and then beamed at each other. Alice couldn't help herself. She picked the redhead up and spun her around with a wild smile.

"We did it." She said, as she set her wife back down. Claire simply held on to the strong arms of her lover. "We did it and we didn't lose a single person. I can't believe the luck we've had."

"Makes up for all the shit that's happened up until now, doesn't it?" Claire smiled and then turned to pick up the ship's mic and keyed the ship's wide intercom system.

**Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please? I am happy to announce that we have successfully completed our mission and we are now back in open water. **She could hear a cheer go up around the ship. **I know that we've all had a long day and that there's still plenty that needs to be done. I ask that you all continue to pitch in and help get the newest supplies inventoried and stored and then you can enjoy yourselves for the next week while we cruise to our location, because once we reach Phoenix Island it will be full steam ahead trying to turn it into our new home.**

As she disconnected the mic she could here another cheer rising through the ship. With a smile on her face she looked at Jason, "Take us home, Jason." She ordered.

"With pleasure, ma'am." The older man beamed at her. They stood around talking until Luther and Chris entered to take their turn on watch. Claire just smiled at the men as she grabbed Alice by the belt loops and started pulling her from the room.

"I guess we won't be seeing them for a while." Jill commented, shaking her head as she watched them leave. Turning to look at two frowning faces she rolled her eyes, "Oh grow up already." She told them before leaving herself and going to find the beautiful doctor Sarah to talk to.

Soapy hands glided over the muscular back and moved the long red hair to one side, then dropped down to cup two perfect breasts. A warm tongue licked from the base of the smooth neck up to a perfect ear. The redhead tilted her head to the side to give her lover more access as Alice's hands traveled in front of the smaller woman and started pinching and squeezing her nipples into hard peaks. One hand released her breast and traveled down to play in wet curls, causing the younger woman to start panting. She couldn't believe how fast Alice made her passion rise. She had never felt anything like this before.

She suddenly felt the tall woman's wet mound against her rear end. Alice's hand momentarily left Claire's breast to open herself on the woman's round behind. Then she returned to tease the stiff nipples with her fingers and palm.

She slid her long fingers back and forth along Claire's already swollen need, and massaged her throbbing bundle with her thumb. The younger woman moaned. Her desire for her wife was becoming unbearable and she panted out her plea, "Please Alice . . . inside . . . now . . . please."

The taller woman gave her love what she needed. She entered her with two fingers in one smooth motion. The redhead held on to Alice's forearm with both hands as Alice's other hand was still stimulating the heaving breast, while she slowly licked and suckled the elegant neck. Alice was rocking against her lover from behind, not knowing what came over her. She had never been with anyone like this before, but it just seemed natural to her.

Claire was riding the long fingers that were buried deep inside of her and holding onto the powerful forearm. She had never been taken like this before, but for some reason it seemed familiar...primal even. Claire's panting came in shorter spurts. Her pelvis moved faster making the fingers push deeper inside of her and the thumb rubbed harder against her clit.

As she heard her lover's erratic breathing behind her and felt the copious amounts of thick wetness spreading over her behind, she knew Alice was close too. They both sped up and knew they were going over together. Claire came hard and kept saying, "Oh God...I love you Alice..." Was all she could pant over and over.

Alice went over moaning in her lover's ear trying to control her screams, aware that others might over hear them. "I love you Claire, I love you so much."

The redhead came down from her glorious ride and started to collapse. If her lover hadn't been holding her, she would have landed on the tile floor of the shower. Alice pulled out of her lover and held her close. She turned off the shower and carried Claire out. She lay down beside her lover, kissing her slowly at first, and then moving so that she was lying on top of her. Their lips opened and tongues dueled, soft moans came from one or both of them but neither was concerned. Alice threaded her long fingers into silky hair and pulled Claire closer; she moved one leg and felt a smaller one slip between hers and press against her center.

When their kiss broke, she felt warm moist lips trail down her jaw to her neck. Alice whimpered and moaned each time Claire touched her to distraction and then backed off; her skin tingled wherever lips, tongue, or fingers explored. She opened her eyes when all the touching stopped and saw a flushed face and darkened blue eyes looking down at her. The fading cast a golden sheen across her lover's skin and made a hallo radiate from around her body.

Claire growled deeply and pinned her hands up over her head. "Don't move them or I'll stop." She moved towards the foot of the bed and then straddled Alice's hips, letting her eyes travel down from kiss-swollen lips to firm breasts; she then reached out to tease her hardened nipples.

Alice arched her back to offer more and moaned when Claire moved her fingers down to trace the muscles of her stomach. "You're just gonna…tease me aren't you?" Her head fell back when a wet tongue traced her taut muscles.

"Maybe…," Claire licked around her navel. "Maybe not." She moved down the bed to trace above the thin strip of hair and moaned from the scent of her lover's arousal. She looked up with lidded eyes to see Alice clench her jaws each time she licked her skin. Moving up her body, she stopped when she was above her and looked down into her sweat-moistened face. "Look at me, baby," she moaned when ice blue eyes opened and held her in place. "I want to hear you; I don't care who else on this ship hears you, but I want to."

She dipped her head down to capture soft parted lips and kissed her until she saw colors behind her lids. When the kiss broke, she waited until she was able to breathe before she spoke. "I need to hear you." She licked around a taut nipple and then nipped lightly before lavishing the same  
>attention to its twin.<p>

"I can't…I don't want everyone else talking about you…" Alice managed to pant out.  
>"I don't care, Alice." She dragged her tongue down from breasts, to ripped abs, and then down to soft curls, stopping only to see glowing hazel eyes watching her. "Please Alice." She said softly, before dragging her tongue across swollen nether lips and then around her twitching clit. She understood that her lover was trying to protect her, but she needed to hear her moans and her whimpers. Moving deeper between her lover's thighs, she raised them up and placed them over her shoulders. Inhaling deeply, she moaned and then used one hand to spread apart her lips. Her mouth watered when her lover's nectar flowed from her center and she brought the flat of her tongue up and licked away her offering.<p>

Alice ground her jaws together and clenched her fists to keep from uttering a sound. She pushed her head back deeper into the pillow and lifted her hips up into her lover's mouth, her neck muscles tightened and her temples pulsed with strain. But no sound came from her, just tears sliding from the corners of her eyes.

Claire tilted her head sideways, pulled her lover's throbbing clit between her lips and pushed two fingers deep inside of her. She pushed and pulled out slowly until she felt inner muscles begin to tighten and twitch. She stopped just before she pushed her over the edge, lifted her head up and looked at a straining Alice.

"Look at me Alice," she gave her a small smile when feverish blue eyes locked with hers. "Let go for me…I love you…let go, there's nothing to be afraid of." She dropped her head back down and flicked the tip of her tongue across her exposed bundle of nerves.

When Alice's body arched off the bed, she held on and continued to lick and press her fingers upward inside her clenching center. The yell that came from her lover when she went over the edge made her ears ring; she sucked and thrust her fingers deep inside her until she took her back over the edge again with another scream.

She stopped when Alice fell limp in the bed and deep sobbing noises came from her. Leaving soft kisses all the way up her body, she stopped at her neck and then laid beside her, she pulled her into her arms and held her tightly.

Long moments later when Alice had quieted, she pulled back to place soft kisses on her lips. "Thank you." She said softly before wrapping her arms around her and pulling her head down to rest on her shoulder. Alice closed her eyes and wished that she could crawl inside of her lover; she had never felt this way before. Never felt such trust, such love, and such contentment before. She felt shattered and whole at the same time. She wrapped her arms around Claire and held on for dear life when her body continued to shudder with aftershocks from her orgasm.

Spreading her fingers out, she trailed them down damp flesh until they came to trim hips. She rolled Claire over and rested her face against her chest. She moved her head a little so that she could look up into her wife's face. "Why did you thank me?"

"Because you gave me everything," Claire moved down so that they were eye-to-eye. Leaning closer, she brought their lips together in a deep consuming kiss. When they parted, she placed soft kisses at the corners of her lips and rested their foreheads together. "I love you," she whispered and brought their lips together in a soft caress. "As crazy as you make me at times, I'm in love with you, Alice."

Alice felt her chest swell and tears come to her eyes, she had had heard it from the woman before and she had said it just as many. She knew her wife loved her, but she couldn't stop. She dropped her head down to rest on her lover's shoulder and let the tears flow.

Alice placed her lips close to her lover's ear and whispered. "I love you, Claire. You are my wife, my mate, and my other half." She kissed the area right below her ear and nipped slightly, "And I'm going to show you just how much I love you until the sun comes up."

She left not a place on her lover's smaller body unexplored, between tender kisses and worshiping touches, she had Claire squirming and begging. Kneeling on either side of trim hips, she dragged her fingertips down across firm breasts. She stopped when Claire arched up against her hands, she could feel her fingers tingle and the goose flesh rise and then fall from soft skin.

She leaned forward and gently suckled each nipple before kissing her way down to red curls, the sounds that came from Claire had her center pulsing and her nectar flowing. She moved so that she was kneeling between her lover's thighs and reached out to taste her with the tip of her tongue. She moaned deeply and pressed her tongue deeper to search out Claire's offering.

"Alice…"Claire gasped out and thrust her hips against her lover's tongue; she tangled her fingers in long hair and pulled her tighter to her as she sat up halfway."Right…there." Her head fell back on her shoulders, body tensed, and then she screamed out Alice's name when her body quaked and juices pumped from her center. She fell forward to lie over Alice's back and grunted with each contraction that coursed through her body.

When her lover moved upward, she wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled her head to her. She kissed her deeply and moaned from the taste of herself on her lips and tongue. She wasn't ready for Alice to position them so that their clits were against each other or for her to move against her and take her back up to the edge.

She wrapped her arms around her neck tighter and captured her lips in a deep soul-searing kiss right before they fell off the edge together. Their noises were swallowed as they rode out the waves of their orgasm. Alice rolled to her side and took her wife with her; they lay wrapped in each other's arms as sleep took them.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

A/N: Just to let everyone know. After this Chapter there are one more to go plus and Epilogue. So the end is in sight. They should be up soon. They are finished and with my Beta. So keep looking.

Chapter 15

Claire and Alice spent most of the next morning lying around in bed talking, neither of them really wanting to get up and face the day. Alice was amused by her wife's behavior. Claire lay curled up to Alice's side with her head buried in her wife's neck. Alice could feel her breathing deeply and knew what she was doing. It seemed that what little of Alice's blood was in her veins was already affecting the redhead. With her increased awareness of the undead had also come an increased sense of smell.

Claire admitted to Alice that she could indeed smell the virus in the undead they had encountered at the last dock and she had noticed what she thought was the sweet smell of unaffected blood mixed in with the metallic smell she was use to in unaffected humans. So now Claire was enjoying the same sensation that Alice got every time she was close enough to smell her mate's blood and the intense arousal that came with it had fueled their love making for hours during the night. Alice did not comment on Claire's actions, instead she just held her tightly and smiled to herself.

It was nearing lunch time when a knock finally interrupted their conversation. Alice rolled her eyes and Claire just groaned. With a sigh the brunette gave Claire a kiss on her forehead before climbing out of bed. She made sure that her wife was completely covered and then pulled on her pants and a tank top. "Hold on." She called when the knock came again. With one last longing look at the nice warm bed with her nice warm and fantastically naked wife she sighed and went to open the door, unsurprised to see it was K-mart.

Standing back she allowed the young blonde to enter, "Morning, K." Claire said, climbing out of bed and pulling on some clothes. She wasn't very concerned about K-mart seeing her naked, after all they had been sharing a jeep for five years.. "What's up?"

The usually outgoing blonde seemed timid as she shrugged, "I just thought maybe I could hang out with you guys for a while. I haven't really got to spend a lot of time with you two lately that didn't consist of missions or planning." She held up a sack of pilfered snacks as an offering.

"I'm sorry K." Claire said taking a seat next to her lover and across from the young blonde. "We didn't mean to make you feel unwanted or left out."

K-mart she smiled and waved away the apology. "Please Claire. you have nothing to be sorry for. You two have been so busy trying to give us a safe place to live and trying to get us enough supplies to survive on. And I know that you two are happy to be back together again so I understand you wanting to spend time with each other. I guess I was just feeling…" She shrugged a little, "I guess I was just feeling a little lonely. That's all."

"I thought you were enjoying spending time with people your age for once?" Alice asked. "And actually being able to be a teenager for once?"

"I was for a while." K-mart admitted smiling slightly as she watched Claire lean into Alice who in turn wrapped her arm around her shoulder and then leaned them into the corner of the couch together. They really were so cute together and she could tell they were very much in love. She was glad to see that Alice was loosening up some around others.

She was now more affectionate and more demonstrative with the redhead when in public. "But I'm just not sure I really know how to be a kid again." She told them. "I would rather be up in the air with Claire or in a room helping plan for our future instead of sitting around gossiping about boys and reminiscing about dancing and school."

"Don't get me wrong." She added seeing their skeptical looks, "I still enjoy those things, but I guess I just don't find them the be all and end all that most of them do."

"Well you have to keep in mind that most of these people never really had to live like you have the last five years." Alice said softly. "You were moving constantly, fighting for your survival, scavenging supplies, and having to avoid the undead at almost every turn. Most of these people were simply held up in one place until Umbrella picked them up or they decided to go to Alaska. I saw the airfield there, K. There couldn't have been enough planes for more than 500 out of over two thousand people. So while they were living in fear of the Apocalypse you were out fighting and actively surviving in it."

"Alice is right, K." Claire told the blond. "Everyone has had it rough over the years, but some of us more so than others. I hate that you had to grow up so young, but you have grown up."

"Yeah, I've listened to others talk about their experiences over the last few weeks and Cassandra is the only other one that had to live on the run." K-mart told them and both women were a little surprised to see the silly smile spread across her face at the mention of the young woman who was a few years older than K-mart. "She was part of a small convoy in Canada for about 4 years,  
>before they found their way to where Arcadia was."<p>

"Where's Cassandra today?" Claire asked with a knowing smile. This was certainly new. They had seen K-mart crush on just about every young male in their convoy and even some of the older ones like Carlos. She and Mickey had been really close and Claire knew that while the young Australian was oblivious to her attraction, K had it hard for the boy. However, she had never seen the blonde crush on another female before and she had to wonder about it. She couldn't remember seeing any signs that the blonde was gay or bisexual, but she hadn't ever really thought to look. "I'm surprised she's not with you?" The two girls had been attached at the hip lately and Claire was surprised not to see her.

"She's with Sarah in the infirmary." K-mart admitted, "She was talking to Sarah a few days ago and admitted that she had always wanted to be a doctor, so Sarah offered to teach her everything she knew. They've been meeting for a few hours a day."

"That's a good thing." Alice said. "It's great that Cassandra is getting to learn something that interests her and I know Sarah will need all the help she can get. There are only a few other nurses on the ship, she's the only doctor we have on board."

"Yeah, she seems really excited about it." K-mart admitted, "I think once they get things settled at the colony they are going to start up again." She tilted her head slightly to one side and looked at the two people before her. "Can…can I ask you two something?"

"You know you can, K." Claire told her with a smile. Glancing at Alice she saw the brunette wink at her. She knew her lover was thinking the same thing that she was. Neither woman had ever seen K- mart looking so nervous before. Even when Claire first found the girl hiding out in a K-mart, she still wasn't this nervous. She looked between the two women and opened her mouth a few times to speak before closing it again with a sigh.

Claire and Alice didn't try to push her; instead they waited for her to find her own words. "Are you two gay?" She eventually blurted out with a rush.

Alice had to bite back a chuckle. "Ummm…K, I'm married to Claire. I sleep with Claire. I thought you knew that." She gently teased, trying to lighten the young blonde's mood.

"That's not what I meant." K-mart said at once.

"It's alright, K." Claire said gently elbowing Alice for her tease. "Just take a deep breath and start from the beginning.

K-mart nodded and then took a deep breath. "What I'm asking is. Are you two gay or bisexual?"

"Well, K." Claire said trying to gather her thoughts. "I think you know me enough to know that I'm bisexual. It's no secret that I was interested in Carlos at one time, before Alice came along."

Alice smirked and K-mart laughed, "Yeah, it was a real kick to his ego that one." She looked at the mentioned brunette, "What about you, Alice?"

"I'm honestly not sure, K." she told the teenager. "I grew up pretty much alone, never getting close to anyone. I never did the teenage girl thing of crushing on all the boys around me. I dated some guys in college, but was never really that into them. Sex period did nothing for me. It was like I really didn't care or want any emotional connection. I was semi-attracted to Spence, at least until I found out he betrayed us, and I guess you could say that at one point I was interested in Carlos."

She shook her head, "If I had to classify myself before the world went to hell I would say I was an uninformed straight woman, but then I met Claire." She shrugged her shoulders slightly, "I met her and as corny as it sounds she opened my eyes. I've never before been attracted to someone as I was her in those first few days and then I got to know her…so if you are asking how I identify now at this point in my life it would be most definitely gay."

"See there. I knew I could turn you." Claire said with a smile."If I worked hard enough."

"Claire, there wasn't any work involved." She whispered in her wife's ear. "All it took was one look and I was yours."

Claire couldn't help but smile. As much as she loved it when her lover was all kickass and tough she also loved it when Alice let her loving side out.

"You just wanted my body." She teased. She also loved to see the desire burning in hazel eyes.

"Mhmmm" Alice agreed nipping gently at a nearby ear. "And what a body it is."

K-mart rolled her eyes, "Back to me, please." She said, before they could get too carried away. "I'm in teenager crises mode here."

That caused the other two to laugh. "Alright, K." Alice managed to get out. "What is it that you want to know?"

"How did you know you were attracted to females?" She asked. "How did you know that you were really attracted to them and not just as friends?"

"K, if you have ever really been attracted to anyone, male or female you know." Claire told her. "Where is all of this coming from?" The redhead asked, even though she already had a pretty good idea.

"I think I'm falling for Cassandra." K-mart admitted. "I know I've gone through crushes so fast in the past that it even made my head spin, but this time it's different. She's different."

"Tell us." Alice said softly, "Tell us how you feel about her. Let us help you work it out."

"I don't know." K-mart said softly, "I'm not sure I can even put it into words. I just know it's different from any crush I've ever had. It's more intense than anything I've ever felt before."

"I think you have your answer, K." Alice told the blonde.

"But how is that possible?" K-mart sounded a little desperate. "I've only known her for a few weeks. How is it possible that I feel this way so soon?"

"K." Claire looked at the girl she thought of as family.

"I had only known Alice for a day before I knew I wanted a life with her, I had only known her for three days before I knew that I loved her, and I had only known her for a week before I was more than ready to give her everything. I know sometimes it doesn't make sense, but it's just the way it happens."

"I always knew you two had something strong together." K-mart told them. "I could see the intense attraction between you two from the beginning and I wasn't the only one. I wasn't kidding when I said it was a kick to Carlos' ego when you chose Alice. I could also see the pain in both of you when we left and Alice remained behind, but I don't think I understood it completely until  
>that day we took over the Arcadia." She shook her head, unable to completely describe what she had realized that day as she watched Claire defend Alice against her own brother and as she watched the redhead waiting frantically for her lover to wake up. She knew then what she wanted in her future. She wanted the same time of passion, love, and commitment that the two women before her shared.<p>

"I don't think we truly understood it until that day either." Alice told her. "I knew when you guys left that I loved Claire and that I would do anything to get back to her, but it wasn't until I found her and she didn't remember me, until I watched her be struck down by Jill and felt my powers respond that I truly knew what she meant to me."

"Alice is right." Claire agreed. "Everything happened so fast in the Nevada dessert that it was hard for us to figure it out and to put words to it back then. My heart was breaking when we left and I knew then that I loved her. Even when I couldn't remember her I could feel the connection between us that went deeper than anything I had ever felt before, but I couldn't put words to it. I couldn't even begin to understand what I was feeling until my memories returned and I saw her fighting to protect me and everyone else. Until I saw her fall and held her in my arms…"

She sniffled slightly and felt Alice's arms tighten around her in response. K-mart frowned at them, sensing that their emotions had taken a downward turn. Trying to lighten the mood she frowned playfully at them. "That's the best advice you two mushballs can give me? To just wait until I can understand what I'm feeling?"

"Well what do you want me to do, K?" Alice said with a smile, "Close my eyes and read your mind until I can say, 'Why yes, K-mart, you are gay and you have it bad for Cassandra.'"

"Ummm… yeah that would be great." K-mart smiled at her.

Alice just snorted, "Right…like that's going to happen."

"Fine, make me figure it out on my own." K-mart said smiling. "So, when are you two going to have kids?"

The subject change and the question caught both women by surprise. "What!" Claire managed to ask. "Where the hell did that come from?"

K-Mar just shrugged, "What? I think that you and Alice would make fantastic parents and I would love to have a sibling or two."

"K, we just had this discussion." Claire said gently. "We're gay, K. Two women. We can't have children together."

K-mart rolled her eyes, "Sperm donor, ever heard of it?"

"K, do you even know what you are saying?" Claire tried to keep her voice calm even as she sensed her wife's unease. "Do you know what you are suggesting? Things aren't the same now. Even if Alice and I were ready, which we aren't, it's not like we can just go to a sperm bank and pick a donor. One of us would have to have sex with a man to get pregnant, most likely more than once. And that's something neither one of us wants to do."

"It's not just that, K." Alice said when the girl seemed to understand. "Claire and I have too much to do to think about bringing children into this world right now. There are too many things that need to be done, but even if that wasn't the case and Claire and I were ready and willing, I can't have children, K. I can't risk passing on what's been done to me."

"There's nothing wrong with you, Alice." The teen argued causing Alice to smile at her.

"Maybe not, K." Alice said softly, "But I still can't risk passing it on."

"But Claire could have children if you two wanted to be parents." K stated and when she saw the look that passed between the two of them she became concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Alice smiled over at her lover and the message was clear. She would support whatever choice her lover made in telling K-mart what was happening. Claire nodded slightly and looked back at the now worried teen. "Nothing's really wrong, K. It's just…" She paused and looked seriously at the young girl.

"I am infected, K." Claire told the girl. "But my blood is working with the viruses to change me. It's giving me a lot of the same abilities as Alice. Not the mental ones, but my strength, smell, and senses have increased."

They waited patiently for K-mart to understand and comment. It took a while but she eventually did. "So that's why you don't want to have kids. You don't want to pass it on to them as well."

"That's one of the reasons yes." Claire, said glad the teen seemed to accept the news. "But even if it wasn't I could never be with anyone but Alice. I just couldn't do it."

"I can understand that." K-mart said after a few moments. "But I still think you two would make amazing parents."


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**One Down and One to Go**

**Chapter 16**

The talk turned to lighter matters and afterwards they continued to sit, chat, and laugh until mid afternoon when the three women could no longer ignore their famished stomachs. Alice and Claire also had a meeting scheduled at four with the council and then one right after that. Chris, Luther, Jill, and the group in charge with the planning and building of their new colony were joining them to discuss where their plans were. They quickly went to the chow hall and nabbed some food from storage before making their way towards one of the lounges that had been turned into a meeting room for the various group meetings. K-mart started to break way as they approached but Claire grabbed her wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" The redhead asked and when the blonde pointed the other way like the answer was obvious she smiled, "Come and sit in the meetings with us. Unless you have better plans, that is."

K-mart just smiled and followed closely while Alice and Claire exchanged a smirk behind her back. They were greeted with smiles from the awaiting council members as they took the open seats.

"Good afternoon, you three." Alison said brightly. "I trust you had a good day so far?"

"Very nice." Claire smiled at the older woman. "I enjoyed being able to rest for at least most of the day."

"I'm sure you did dear." Alison said with a knowing smile and laughed when she saw both women blush. She sent a wink at K-mart who was shaking her head and then decided not to embarrass the two women any further. "Now while you were out raiding stores, killing the undead, and just having a fun time in general we managed to hammer out the first draft of what I guess could be called our constitution."

"I've got a couple of copies that you two can read over but I thought I would give you the highlights." When the two women nodded she continued. "I think most of the things you will recognize. A list of crimes that are punishable will look familiar to you; theft, abuse, battery, rape, murder, arson, and so on. The punishments will have to be determined as we go along and see what we have available to work with. Though the council has asked that a police force be put together and placed in charge for the general safety of the colony. We also know that we need to have a force trained to fight against Umbrella if the time comes, but we want to limit it."

"Limit it how?" Claire asked, knowing that they needed to be able to protect themselves and their new home.

"Everyone from legal age up until they are no longer physically able will have to go through training once a month to make sure they are able to fight." Alison said, "But we want the main army to be voluntary."

Alice nodded, "Jill and I have talked about that and came up with pretty much the same thing. She and I are going to oversee its formation and training. We really don't see a need to have an army and a police force. We kind of figured we would just make the one force responsible for it all."

Alison nodded and looked at her fellow council members who also nodded in agreement. "That could work." She looked at Susan who was making notes and changing things in the draft. "We also want to make school mandatory for all children until they reach the legal age of sixteen." Alison told them. "We feel it's important that they're given as many of the same chances as they would've had before the world went to hell. Once they reach the age of sixteen they no longer have to attend, but they can continue to further their education with an apprenticeship in their desired field. For example, they can apprentice with Sarah to continue in the medical field or in farming, and learn about agriculture. They can also meet with Alice and Jill for military knowledge."

"I've already talked to the builders about constructing a school house." Claire told them. "And I've had several of the men and women who have previous experience in teaching approach me about continuing to teach."

"That's good." Alison said. "And it brings us to the next point I feel needs to be highlighted. Everyone must contribute to the colony. Now I understand not everyone is made for the military, not everyone can teach, or farm, but everyone must contribute in some productive way. We feel that the only way the colony will survive is if we pool our resources."

Alice smiled at them, "Again, I think we are on the same wavelength. I'm not sure if you have had a chance to look at the supplies we secured yesterday, but I made sure that we have what we need to hunt and fish. I've been approached by someone that has asked about running a…well I guess a community chow hall of sorts." She looked at the council and then said, "Claire and I've talked about this. I think all food supplies, all crops that we harvest, everything that we kill or catch should go to a central location and then families can either come and get what they need to cook for themselves, or they can eat in the chow hall."

Claire added, "It would be a good way to put some of the younger kids and teens to work. They could help with the cooking, serving, and cleaning. If everyone adds food to the supply then there won't be a problem with everyone taking some out."

"Who was it that approached you about it?" Anne asked.

Alice actually snorted, "Luther. Believe it or not he claims that he always wanted to work in a restaurant and figured that this was about as close as he would get."

"Well, I think it's a good idea." Anne said. "And I know several of the older ladies who might enjoy helping him with the cooking. Though I imagine it will take some getting used to cooking on an open fire." The others nodded in agreement with that.

"Well it might not be as different as you think." Alice told them "Obviously it won't be like using a gas or electric stove, but Luther has some idea about engineering some things. If you give him the leeway he needs I think you'll be surprised."

"Alright." Alison nodded, "I'll go with you and Claire's judgment on this one."

"Luther will be pleased." Claire smiled.

"The rest of you can read for yourselves." Alison told them, "But there is one more point we wanted to highlight." When Alice and Claire nodded she continued, "Now we know that not everyone will agree with this, but with the way the world is we can't see holding on to old prejudice." She passed the two women a sheet of paper. "We have decided that marriage will be legal for all whether it is between a man and a woman, two men, or two women. We wanted you two to be the first couple officially married by the council."

Alice and Claire looked down on the piece of paper in shock. It was a marriage certificate stating that Claire Redfield and Alice Abernathy were legally joined together. It had the date of marriage as the day the two women put the rings on each other's fingers. Claire had tears in her eyes as she smiled up at her wife and Alice was fighting back some of her own. Reaching out she pulled her wife into her arms and then smiled over at the council. "Thank you." She said in barely a whisper, but the emotion was clear in her voice and it was all she needed to say.

Alison allowed them the time they needed to pull themselves together, before she continued, "We've discussed other aspects of family life and what we might need to address.

As of right now we aren't going to establish any population controls, but we are going to watch the situation closely. We have a lot of people and know that once we get settled down they will want to return to a more normal ways of life. That means marriages and babies. While we have space, we will need to watch and make sure overcrowding doesn't occur. We know that some of the lesbian couples might seek out sperm donors, for those who are not comfortable with that idea or for other couples who are unable to have children we have drawn up some guidelines for adoption.

As much as I know we have to think about it, without modern medicine I'm sure that circumstances will lead to us always having children who don't have a home."

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Jill stuck her head in. "Are you about ready for us?"

Alison looked at Claire, who nodded and waved Jill and the others in before looking back at the council. "We'll read over this tonight and see if anything else comes up. Thank you all for your help and your hard work."

"And most especially thank you for this." Alice added, indicating the certificate in front of them. "It really does mean the world to us." She added as the others took seats around the table. The council just smiled at the couple and nodded while K-mart moved closer and picked it up to read over it.

Jill sat next to Alice and handed all them three bottles of water while looking at the paper in K-mart's hand. All she did was raise her eyebrow in amazement. "Thanks Jill."

Claire said as she looked around the table. "Alright, let's get started so we can go deal with something else. Do we have a breakdown on where we stand on supplies?"

"I've got it." Jill told her, holding out a sheet of paper. "Kim passed it off to me as I was coming in. It looks like we should be in pretty good shape. The food is in good supply until we can start planting, hunting, and fishing. We are set on clothing and we have enough cloth and supplies that as long as we're careful we'll have enough for years. We have at last count enough tents to house all of us, but it will be tight quarters until we can get some of the buildings up."

"The building supplies are what I worry about." William cut in. In his life before the Apocalypse he was an architect and owner of a construction company. He'd been put in charge of the planning and building of the colony. "Can you tell me what we have?"

"Well after what we managed to get and what was already on board I think we have two full storage rooms full of supplies." Jill told him, looking at the paper.

"We have over a thousand hammers, couple hundred saws, couple hundred axes and several hundred hand sanders. They didn't even begin to count all the nails, screws and such." She read it through. "Ummm…looks like we have bags of concrete, over adhesive materials, and things I've never heard of before."

William laughed a little, "Well we already knew that these houses would be interesting to build. I've talked to some of the guys and we've come up with ways of merging modern techniques with more ancient ones, but I'm concerned that no matter how many supplies we have we will need more. We're looking at having to build almost four hundred different buildings to begin with and then making them as simple as possible. Two or three bed rooms and one main room."

"Well, there are enough trees on the island to come up with lumber." Alice told him.

"Yes, but that all has to be cleared, split, and sanded." William told her, "And it has to be done mostly by hand, because the charge on those power tools won't last long."

"Not true." K-mart spoke up for the first time since she entered the room and all eyes turned to her. "We have solar chargers." She smiled at them. "Anything that has a rechargeable battery I can recharge for you. Now any of your gas powered tools I can't help you with, but the rest is good to go."

"Well that will help." He smiled at the teen. "Can you get with me later and go through some of this stuff so I know what we can charge and what we can't?"

"Sure." K-mart agreed, "Just let me know when."

"Good." William said turning back to the others, "But even with that added bonus we're still looking at a lot of time and a lot of work. I've figured it will take at least a month to even clear enough land to start building on and a year or more to have all the buildings up. I won't be able to give you a more accurate estimate until I can see the island from the air. But, I will say that we're lucky that we have over two thousand people. We will need them all to contribute in some way. And I'm still concerned about running out of basic supplies."

"Well, we are five or six days away from the island." Alice said. "So it will be a few days before we are close enough to take you up in the Osprey, but as soon as we're close enough we will."

"I think I can help we the supply issue." Chris said from his position. When all eyes were on him he continued, "Some of the guys have approached me about the possibility to taking the Arcadia back out after we've settled everyone on the island."

"For what reason?" Claire asked. She and Chris had settled on an easy truce, but were still having problems relating to each other. Claire was having problems forgiving her brother and he still wasn't willing to accept her choices. But they were trying to put their differences aside and work together.

"They want to keep looking for survivors." Chris told his sister. "They feel that there have to be others out there that we could offer help to."

"So what is it that you're proposing?" Alison asked.

"That we stay on the island for six months and help with the clearing of the land and unloading supplies from the ship." Chris said. "Then a group of us will set sail again and see if we can find any other survivors and at the same time we can see about finding any more supplies that we can bring back to use."

"Were do you plan to sail?" Alice asked. "And how long do you plan to be gone for?"

"For the first trip we want to start in Alaska and sail down the coast of North America." Chris told her. "We figure we'll probably be back to the island within 6 months. There has to be places that we can get fuel and supplies from along the way."

"You know it will mean you'll be living with basic supplies on the ship?" Claire told her older brother. "We plan on stripping it of all useable materials."

"Yes." Chris told her. "But we've talked about abandoning the ship and finding a new one." At their look he said. "It's too easily recognized if Umbrella is still looking for us and we don't have the ability to disguise it. After we strip it of useable supplies I think we should set sail and find another ship and leave this one behind. We might even be able to find more than one. If we do we can send the second one back with supplies early."

"Alright." Alison said. "We'll discuss it and make a decision, but I think that if you're at will, it sounds like a good idea."

Chris nodded his head satisfied with her answer. He knew that in the end they would allow him to take a group back out. He didn't think he could stay permanently in the colony, or at least not yet. While he tried not to antagonize his sister or Alice, the truth was he still didn't approve of the situation. He didn't like the ex-project and he didn't trust her with his sister. But Claire had made it abundantly clear that she would chose the brunette over him so he figured it'd be best if he stayed out of their way. In order to do that he would have to volunteer to take the ship back out. He couldn't stay in the same house as the two and since he wasn't married that would be where he would end up, or he'd have to stay with the kids as a house parent. Neither option appealed to him.

Susan's next question pulled him from his thoughts. "Have we given any priority to the building projects? Do we know what we're going to focus on first?"

"Alice and Claire have requested that the first three building's to go up be the storage buildings and the colony chow hall, as they will be the easiest." William told them.

All the council members looked at the two women for an explanation to their request. Claire was the one to answer. "We need a place to store the supplies as soon as possible. We can leave things on the ship for a while, but if we're to send it out again we need that building up as soon as possible. We'll need one for all of the supplies and a second one for all of the food. The chow hall, community hall, whatever you want to call it can be used as storage as well. The first two are single room buildings and the third is two rooms. They're simple to put up and I think they should be in the center of the colony. Everything else will be built out from there."

"Alright, that makes sense." John nodded, "So what's next?"

"The dorm houses." Alice said. "Three dorm houses, each house holding 250 kids in two rooms and then two rooms for the house parents. It will allow us to move the kids out of the tents and free up space. We can put them there and then worry about beds and things when we have the time."

"The storage, community hall, dorms, and the school will become the center of the colony." Claire told them. "We can wait on the school until later. The houses will be built out from the colony and into the valley. As we need to expand we can."

"Alright." Alison nodded, "I think that's it for now. It all sounds like a solid plan and the rest can wait until we can see the island from the air. Thank you all for coming."

Claire smiled at the council as they left and then looked at Jill. "Do you want to join us for dinner?" She asked indicating herself, Alice and K-mart. When Jill nodded she looked at Luther and Chris, "What about you guys?"

"We've got watch in a little while." Luther told her. "Some other time." He smiled at her. He was still a little sore about losing his chance with Alice but he was getting over it.

"Fair enough." Claire said taking her wife's hand. "Come on baby, I'm starving."

Alice let herself be led from the room by the redhead. She knew they had a lot of work to do and many things that needed to be accomplished, but even though it might take them years to finish she knew they would succeed in the end. She would do everything in her power to make sure that they did, because she wanted nothing more than to finally be able to provide a safe home for her wife and her family.


	17. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN Resident Evil or any of the main Characters. I just borrowed them for a while.**

**Epilogue **

Alice sighed in relief as she sunk back into the cushioned bench on the deck of their house hoping to enjoy a few minutes of peace as she watched the moon and stars spread their light over the ocean. She had been up before sunrise that morning to lead a hunting team into the surrounding hills to try and replenish the colony's supply of fresh meat. A task that normally would be considered tiring to anyone was made even more so with the addition of several new hunters to their groups they could get the job done quicker. So she had spent the last fourteen hours trying to teach the young teens the ins and outs of hunting. It had been a long day. Hell, she couldn't help but think it had been a long five years and that was only including the time they had been on the island.

With a sigh she let her mind wonder back over all they had accomplished. Four days after their last raid the Arcadia was close enough for the Osprey to reach the island without too much trouble. Leaving Chris and Luther in charge, Claire and John had flown the council members, William and some of his group, as well as Jill, Alice, and K-mart to take an aerial tour of the island. The island had been more densely covered in trees than Alice had remembered but everything else had been as she described.

While more trees meant more wood, it also meant that William's estimates had also been off and it would take more time to clear the land than they thought. They were also happy to see signs of wildlife along with rivers and waterfall fed pools. It would mean plenty of water for them to drink. When they returned to the Arcadia and reported their findings, it lead to a giant celebration. Everyone was so happy that things had been as Alice reported and that no one cared about the amount of work ahead of them. The last two days of the journey had been tedious for all of them, but it was with a great sigh of relief that loaded up the first boats with people and supplies as they made their way to shore.

It took them the entire first day to bring all the people to the island; each boat load carried enough tents, food, and water for the people in it. It was crowded and both Alice and Claire knew that tempers would become short when they all settled down for their first night. They could only hope that everyone would be able to make the best of it.

That first morning after making sure everyone was fed; the first order of business was to bring over enough food supplies and necessities to last them for a while. They would rotate out a small group of men on the ship every three days who would be responsible for guarding their supplies and keeping a look out for trouble. While Claire helped organize temporary storage for the supplies with tarps and several storage tents, Alice took a group of men back to begin bringing over the building supplies which were housed in another storage tent. That had taken them the rest of the day.

By sunrise the next morning every able person was broken into groups and put to work by clearing trees, some with two person saws and some with axes. The trees were tied up and dragged by groups of men to a small clearing where they were split, chopped, sanded, and stacked. The older ladies who were helping with that began their own projects with making sheets, cloth doors, and other things they would need when the time came. The children were put to work in various ways, helping where they could, but everyone worked and everyone was thankful for the mild temperatures.

It took them two months to clear enough trees and create enough wood before they had a large enough space in which to start building. Another group broke off then to start construction on the first few buildings. Once the storage buildings were complete and the Colony Hall was built, they moved all of their supplies from the ship to the island. It had slowed down the process of clearing the land for a while because it took a large chunk of their man power to help break down and remove all the necessary furniture and supplies. Instead of wasting gas on running the boats back and forth a pier was built and the Arcadia was brought as close as possible and all of the supplies were unloaded that way.

They cleared it out of anything they thought they might use, tables, chairs, beds, and desks all had to broken down to get out of doors and then would have to be reassembled later. Once it was stripped the Council approved Chris' request and he set out with a group of twenty men to procure a new boat, more supplies, and to look for survivors.

After three months the community dorms were completed and the colonist happily moved all the small children and older adults in doors. They were still sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags, but at least it was a roof over their head and it cleared up some space for those still on the beach.

Every few weeks they would get rain and Alice could remember the celebration that occurred the first time it happened. Most of them feared that they would never see rain again. After the dorms were complete they began working on the houses. The colonists had insisted that the first house to be built would be Alice and Claire's. The two women had argued, but in the end they lost the fight and so their house became the first one built.

It was placed on the very edge of the clearing with one side facing the trees and the other overlooking the ocean. It consisted of one large family room that was open to the kitchen, then three smaller bedrooms, and one small storage room. The windows were opened but shutters could be dropped when it rained and the side of the house that faced the ocean contained a covered porch.

Both women knew that it was more luxurious than the other houses would probably be, but the joy they witnessed when the people of Phoenix Island showed it to them made them accept the inevitable. They were even more surprised to find it already containing the furniture that had been taken from the captain's quarters on Arcadia. Claire had cried when she saw that and hugged each person she could get her hands on.

Three months after his departure, six since they first arrived, Chris returned with two different ships, 200 new survivors, and tons of supplies. Work had stopped the next day while everyone celebrated their success and welcomed the new members to their colony. The following day everything went back to normal and the new colonists picked up tools and began to help.

It took nearly a year before all the houses were complete and they could start focusing on other projects. The school house was constructed, beds built for the dorms, more land cleared, and the soil turned and aerated for crops.

K-Mart had her hands full figuring out how to run everything possible with the solar chargers and solar panels. Frank had been right during that first raid. They would never have electricity in the houses but they did have movies every Friday night, which were run with solar powered computers and projectors. She was happy to move in with Claire and Alice when the house was finished and she continued to develop first her friendship and then a relationship with Cassandra. A year ago the two had married and moved into a recently vacated house right next door to Alice and Claire.

Since Chris was gone from the island looking for survivors so often, the two women were able to finally have the house to themselves. Chris would return every six months and his group would stay for a week or so and then leave again, sometimes with the same men, sometimes with others. He seemed happy with his nomadic lifestyle and Alice knew it was because he still couldn't fully accept that she was in his sister's life to stay.

Claire didn't let it bother her and always welcomed him to stay in their house when he returned. When he returned he would always bring as many supplies as possible and sometimes he would bring more survivors. They were always welcomed and so far had all taken on their fair share. He had also helped a group of a hundred settle in Alaska when they choose to remain on the main land and afterwards was joined by nearly 400 more. He would now check on them each time they went out and they would always send some men to help in any raids.

Luther had taken over control of the Community Hall and it was a big hit. There were always plenty of young teens and older women around who wanted to help in cooking food for the colony. The kids always served their time in serving the food and cleaning up afterwards. On an average Luther served at least 1,500 people per meal, the rest choosing to eat in their own kitchens. He'd finally given up his anger over the Claire and Alice situation and was finally dating a woman named Maxine. No wedding was in sight but the two seemed happy together.  
>Jill and Sarah had gotten together and married two years into the colony's establishment. They took up residence in a house across and three doors down from their friends and it wasn't unusual for the three couples to share a dinner together.<p>

So far they hadn't seen nor heard anything from or about Umbrella but Alice wouldn't count them out yet. They would be back it was only a matter of time. But until they came Jill was helping Alice with the training of the island's law enforcement and military reserve, but she had readily agreed to take on the duties of seeing to the colony's law enforcement. They had experienced their fair share of trouble, but so far nothing that couldn't be resolved with damages being paid or sometimes in the new jail house. Neither woman was looking forward till the time when they had to figure out how to punish someone for a serious crime.

The sound of children laughing as they made their way home for dinner reminded Alice just how much they were growing. Couples had started marrying and new children were being born. The first was born 2 years ago and since then they had welcomed twenty-five newborns into their folds, but as good as most things were, not everything was well.

They had lost people. Nearly one-hundred of their original numbers were gone. They'd lost some to accidents while they were building; some had been lost in raids to the still overwhelming numbers of undead and some had been lost to the dangers of the island. They had encountered poisonous snakes, spiders, and other insects whose venom was deadly. Two deaths still impacted Alice, Claire, K-mart, and Cassandra greatly as they had only happened a few months ago.

Jessica and her new husband Mark were close friends with the K-mart and Cassandra and as such had come to see Alice and Claire as family. They were so excited when they found out that they were expecting their first child. They couldn't stop beaming for weeks and then tragedy struck when Mark was bitten by a snake during a hunting trip. The venom had killed him before they could ever make it back to the village.

As a result, Jessica was devastated and Alice and Claire were terrified that she would lose the babies. She'd managed to hang on long enough to give birth to twins, a boy and girl but she too had died when her body simply gave out during the births and it had been a fight for Sarah and Cassandra to save the children.

"Hey you." Her wife's voice shook her from her thoughts. "Can you help me, please?"

Alice jumped to her feet and smiled at her wife as she immediately took custody of one of the little bundles in Claire's arms. She leaned in to kiss her wife deeply before leading her to the bench to sit down. Sitting down next to her, Claire immediately leaned into Alice's warm body as Alice adjusted her hold on the precious bundle in her arms. "Hi there." She whispered as she ran her finger down her sleeping son's cheek. "How's my little man this evening?"

"He missed you today, baby and so did I." Claire said, turning her head and finding her wife's lips again, kissing her deeply, and pouring all her love into the contact. They continued to kiss until their daughter's fussing in Claire's arms caught their attention. "And so did she, didn't you baby-girl." Claire said smiling down at their daughter.

Claire and Alice had resigned themselves to never having biological children. Neither of them wanted to take the chance of spreading their DNA or blood to an innocent child, unsure of what problems it may cause. Even if that wasn't the case, Claire would never consider having sex with a man to conceive a child and Alice would never ask her to. But when Jessica passed away neither woman thought twice about petitioning to the council for permission to adopt the new born twins.

The day that they officially brought home Matthew James Abernathy-Redfield and Angela Michelle Abernathy-Redfield was the best day of their lives and even now, with many sleepless nights down the road they didn't regret their decision.

"Did you ever think that we would end up here, together like this?" Claire asked softly as to not wake the sleeping infants.

"If you had asked me before I met you if I could ever see myself married to such a wonderful woman with two amazing kids and an extended family, I would have laughed at you." Alice admitted. "I was so lost for so long after what Umbrella did to me. I felt like I had lost my humanity, my reason for living, and then I met you."

She turned her head and gently kissed her wife again. "You gave me back my humanity. You gave me back my reason for fighting and for living. You gave me back my heart and soul. I think I knew after our first night together that somehow we would eventually end up here together like this and I thank whatever deity might be listening every day that I was lucky enough to find your love."

"I love you, Claire." Alice said with all the sincerity she had. "I love you and our children and I will do everything in my power to show you day after day just how much I love you."

"I love you too, Alice." Claire said with tears in her eyes. Laying her head on her wife's shoulder and pulling her daughter close she whispered again, "I love you too."

The End.


End file.
